41,:. 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

O 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY 


FRONTISPIECE 


Fly — fly — these  thoughts  on  the  lightning  car, 
With  the  speed  of  light  to  the  realms  afar! 
Mount — mount  the  car  with  the  horse  of  fire; 
Outstrip   the  wind,   he  will   never  tire; 
Let  the  wild  bird  scream  as  he  lags  behind, 
And  the  hurricane  a  champion  find. 
Search  the  darkest  spot  where  mortals  dwell: 
With  a  voice  of  thunder  the  tidings  tell; 
Proclaim  the  dawn   of  a  brighter   day, 
When  the  King  of  kings  shall  His  sceptre  sway, 
Bid  pain,  and  anguish,   and  sorrow  cease, 
And  open  the  way  for  the  Prince  of  peace. 
He  will  conquer  death,  bid  mourning  flea. 
And  give  to  the  nations  a  Jubilee. 


KEY 

TO  THE 

SCIENCE  OF  THEOLOGY 


DESIGNED  AS 

AN  INTRODUCTION 

To  the  First  Principles  of  Spiritual  Philosophy,  Religion,  Law 

and  Government,  as  Delievered  by  the  Ancients,  and  as 

Restored   in   this  Age   for   the   Final   Development 

of    Universal  Peace,    Truth   and  Knowledge, 


BY  PARLEY  *?-.  PRATT 
// 


O,  Truth  divine!    what  treasures  unrevealed, 
In  thine  exhaustless  fountains  are  concealed! 
Words  multiplied,   how  powerless  to  tell 
The  infinitude  with  which   our  bosoms  swell. 


SEVENTH  EDITION 


SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH. 

Deseret   News,   Printers  and   Publishers. 

1915 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

CONTENTS 


PAGE. 

Preface    7 

CHAPTER  I. 

Theology— Its  Definition — Historical  Illustra- 
tions    11 

CHAPTER  II. 
Decline  and  Loss  of  this  Science  among  the 

Jews  19 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  progress,  decline  and  final  loss  of  the 
Science  of  Theology  among  the  Gentiles — 
Foreshadowings  of  its  restoration  for  the 
ushering  in  of  the  Millennium 22 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  rise,  progress,  decline  and  loss  of  the 
Science  of  Theology  on  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  as  brought  to  light  by  the 
late  discovery  of  ancient  American  records  28 

CHAPTER  V. 

Keys  of  the  Mysteries  of  the  Godhead 32 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Origin  of  the  Universe 46 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Destiny  of  the  Universe 55 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Key  of  Knowledge,  Power  and  Government. .     64 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Revival  or  Restoration  of  the  Science  of  The- 
ology in  the  Present  Age 72 

CHAPTER  X. 

Keys  of  Initiation  in  Practical  Theology 91 

CHAPTER  XL 

Philosophy  of  Miracles 97 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Angels  and  Spirits 105 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Dreams 113 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  World  of  Spirits 118 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Resurrection,  its  Times  and  Degrees — First, 
Second  Third  Heavens,  or  the  Telestial, 
Terrestrial  and  Celestial  Kingdoms 124 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Further  remarks  on  Man's  Physical  and  In- 
tellectual Progress — Philosophy  of  Will, 
as  originating,  directing  and  controlling 
all  Voluntary  Animal  Motion — Astound- 
ing facts  in  relation  to  the  Speed  or  Veloc- 
ity of  Motion,  as  attainable  by  Physical 
Man — Inter-communication  of  the  Inhabit 
ants  of  different  and  distant  Planets 149 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Laws  of  Marriage  and  Procreation 149 


PREFACE 


The  present  is  an  age  of  progress,  of  change,  of 
rapid  advance,  and  of  wonderful  revolutions. 

The  very  foundations  of  society — social,  polit- 
ical, commercial,  moral  and  religious — seem  to  be 
shaken  as  with  a  mighty  earthquake,  from  center 
to  circumference.  All  things  tremble,  creation 
groans,  the  world  is  in  travail  and  pains  to  be 
delivered. 

A  new  era  has  dawned  upon  our  planet,  and  is 
advancing  with  accelerated  force,  with  giant 
strides. 

The  railroads  and  the  steamboats,  with  their 
progressive  improvements  in  speed,  safety  and 
convenience,  are  extending  and  multiplying  the 
means  of  travel,  of  trade,  of  association  and  inter- 
communications between  countries  whose  inhabit- 
ants have  been  comparatively  unknown  to  or 
estranged  from  each  other. 

But,  as  if  even  these  means  were  too  slow  for 
the  Godlike  aspirations,  the  mighty  throes  of  hu- 
man thought  and  its  struggles  for  light  and  ex- 
pansion, man  seizes  the  lightning,  tames  and  sub- 
dues it,  and  makes  it  the  bearer  of  his  thoughts 
and  dispatches.  While  these  things  are  in  progress 
by  one  portion  of  mankind,  another  learns  to 
seize  and  control  a  sunbeam,  in  a  manner  sub- 
servient to  the  progress  of  the  fine  arts,  and  by 
which  means  a  man  performs  in  a  minute  the  work 


8  PREFACE. 

which  a  short  time  since  would  have  employed  the 
most  active  years  of  a  lifetime. 

While  every  science,  every  art  is  being  devel- 
oped; while  the  mind  is  awakened  to  new 
thoughts;  while  the  windows  of  heaven  are  opened, 
as  it  were,  and  the  profound  depths  of  human  in- 
tellect are  stirred,  moved  from  the  foundation  on 
all  other  subjects,  religious  knowledge  seems  at 
a  standstill. 

The  creeds  of  the  fathers  seem  to  have  been 
cast  in  the  mold  of  other  ages,  to  be  adapted  to 
a  more  narrow  sphere  of  intellectual  development, 
and  to  be  composed  of  material  too  much  resem- 
bling cast  iron;  or,  at  least,  not  sufficiently  elastic 
to  expand  with  the  expansion  of  mind,  to  grow 
with  the  growth  and  advance  with  the  progressive 
principles  of  the  age. 

For  these  reasons,  perhaps  more  than  any 
other,  the  master  spirits  of  the  age  are  breaking 
loose  from  the  old  moorings  and  withdrawing 
from  established  and  venerated  systems,  by  which 
means  society  is  distracted,  divided,  broken  up, 
thrown,  as  it  were,  into  a  chaos  of  confused,  dis- 
organized individualization,  without  a  standard  or 
rallying  point,  without  a  nucleus  by  which  to 
concentrate  or  re-organize  this  chaotic  mass,  these 
atoms  of  thought. 

One  thing  is  certain,  according  to  ancient 
prophecy,  and  agreeable  to  the  general  expecta- 
tion of  this  and  other  ages,  the  day  approaches 
which  will  flood  the  earth  with  the  pure  principles 
of  religious  knowledge;  a  day  when  none  will 
have  to  teach  his  neighbor,  saying,  Know  ye  the 


PREFACE.  y 

Lord,  for  all  persons  shall  know  Him  from  the 
least  to  the  greatest. 

It  should  be  a  matter  of  serious  thought  and 
investigation,  without  respect  to  party,  sect  or 
creed,  whether  there  should  not,  in  the  very  nature 
of  circumstances  and  future  Millennial  hopes,  be 
an  entire  remodeling  or  re-organization  of  re- 
ligious society,  upon  the  broad  basis  of  revealed 
knowledge,  tangible  fact,  and  philosophical,  scien- 
tific and  spiritual  truth,  a  universal  "standard"  of 
immutable  Truth,  instead  of  numberless  systems 
founded  on  uncertainty,  opinion,  mere  human  im- 
pression or  conjecture. 

Can  anything  short  of  such  a  standard  unite 
society,  enlighten  the  world,  establish  real  peace, 
brotherhood  and  fellowship,  and  put  a  final  end  to 
religious  ignorance,  superstition,  jargon,  or  dis- 
cord? Is  not  a  difference  of  opinion,  or  a  disa- 
greement on  any  given  subject,  a  proof  positive  of 
existing  ignorance,  or  want  of  light  or  informa- 
tion, on  the  part  of  the  parties  disagreeing?  If  so, 
the  present  age  is  certainly  in  the  dark,  or,  in  a 
great  measure,  ignorant  on  religious  subjects.  A 
knowledge  of  the  Truth  can  alone  bring  the  de- 
sired union  and  bid  discord  cease.  If  the  Scrip- 
tures be  true,  it  is  not  religious  opinion  which  will 
cover  the  earth,  and  universally  pervade  every 
bosom,  but  it  is  a  KNOWLEDGE,  "The  knowledge  of 
God."  "GoD  is  TRUTH/'  To  know  Him,  is  to 
know  the  Truth. 

The  present  volume  aims  to  embody,  in  a  con- 
cise and  somewhat  original  manner  and  style,  a 
general  view  of  the  Science  of  Theology,  as  gath- 


10  PREFACE. 

ered    from    revelation,    history,    prophecy,    reason 
and  analogy. 

If  the  Work  proves  an  introductory  key  to 
some  of  the  first  principles  of  the  divine  science 
of  which  it  treats;  if  it  serves  to  open  the  eyes  of 
any  of  his  fellow  men,  on  the  facts  of  the  past, 
the  present,  and  the  future;  if  it  leads  to  investi- 
gation and  inquiry,  and  calls  public  attention  to 
the  greater  and  more  particular  truths  which  have 
been  or  are  about  to  be  revealed  as  a  standard  by 
which  to  unite  the  people  of  all  nations  and  of  all 
religions  upon  the  rock,  the  sure  foundation  of 
divine,  eternal,  uncreated,  infinite  and  exhaustless 
Truth,  it  will  have  accomplished  the  end  aimed 
at  by 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Key  to  Theology 


CHAPTER  I. 

THEOLOGY— ITS    DEFINITION— HISTORICAL 
ILLUSTRATION. 

Eternal  Science!  who  would  fathom  thee 

Must  launch  his  bark  upon  a  shoreless  sea. 

Thy  knowledge  yet  shall  overwhelm  the  earth, 

Thy  truth  to  immortality  give  birth, 

Thy  dawn  shall  kindle  to  eternal  day, 

And  man,  immortal,  still  shall  own  thy  sway. 

FIRST.  THEOLOGY  is  the  science  of  communica- 
tion, or  of  correspondence,  between  God,  angels, 
spirits,  and  men,  by  means  of  visions,  dreams,  in- 
terpretations, conversations,  inspirations,  or  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  and  revelation. 

Second.  It  is  the  science  by  which  worlds  are 
organized,  sustained  and  directed,  and  the  ele- 
ments controlled-. 

Third.  It  is  the  science  of  knowledge,  and 
the  key  and  power  thereof,  by  which  the  heavens 
are  opened,  and  lawful  access  is  obtained  to  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  intelligence — inexhausti- 
ble, infinite,  embracing  the  past,  the  present,  and 
the  future. 


12  KEY   TO   THEOLOGY. 

Fourth.  It  is  the  science  of  life,  endless  and 
eternal,  by  which  the  living  are  changed  or  trans- 
lated, and  the  dead  raised. 

Fifth.  It  is  the  science  of  faith,  reformation, 
and  remission  of  sins,  whereby  a  fallen  race  of 
mortals  may  be  justified,  cleansed,  and  restored  to 
the  communion  and  fellowship  of  that  Holy  Spirit 
which  is  the  light  of  the  world,  and  of  every  in- 
telligence therein. 

Sixth.  It  is  the  science  of  spiritual  gifts,  by 
which  the  blind  see,  the  deaf  hear,  the  lame  walk, 
the  sick  are  healed,  and  demons  are  expelled  from 
the  human  system. 

Seventh.  It  is  the  science  of  all  other  sciences 
and  useful  arts,  being,  in  fact,  the  very  fountain 
from  which  they  emanate.  It  includes  philosophy, 
astronomy,  history,  mathematics,  geography,  lan- 
guages, the  science  of  letters,  and  blends  the 
knowledge  of  all  matters  of  fact,  in  every  branch 
of  art,  or  of  research.  It  includes,  also,  all  the 
scientific  discoveries  and  inventions,  agriculture, 
the  mechanical  arts,  architecture,  shipbuilding,  the 
properties  and  applications  of  the  mariner's  com- 
pass, navigation  and  music.  All  that  is  useful, 
great  and  good,  all  that  is  calculated  to  sustain, 
comfort,  instruct,  edify,  purify,  refine  or  exalt  in- 
telligences, originated  by  this  science,  and  this 
science  alone,  all  other  sciences  being  but  branches 
growing  out  of  this,  the  root. 

Some  of  the  facts  stated  in  the  foregoing  are 
beautifully  illustrated  in  theological  history,  of 
which  the  following  is  an  imperfect  summary: 


KEY   TO  THEOLOGY.  13 

God  spake,  and  the  worlds  were  framed  by 
His  word. 

He  spake,  darkness  dispersed,  and  light  pre- 
vailed. 

He  commanded,  and  the  elements,  water  and 
earth,  separated,  and  assumed  their  proper  bounds. 

He  commanded,  and  the  earth  brought  forth 
vegetable  and  animal  life  in  countless  variety. 

He  commanded,  and  man,  male  and  female, 
took  upon  them  a  tabernacle  of  flesh,  and  prepared 
to  multiply  and  perpetuate  their  species  in  the  new 
creation. 

"The  Lord  God  planted  a  garden,"  and  thus, 
introduced  agriculture. 

"He  made  coats  of  skins,"  hence  the  tailor's  art. 

The  Lord  God  commanded  and  gave  pattern 
for  Noah's  ark,  thus  introducing  the  art  of  ship- 
building. 

He  revealed  the  patterns  for  the  Tabernacle  in 
the  wilderness,  with  all  its  arrangements  and  fur- 
niture; and  afterwards  developed  the  entire  plan 
and  all  the  designs  of  that  most  stupendous  of  all 
works  of  art,  the  great  Temple  of  Solomon,  with 
all  its  furniture;  thus  developing^  and  improving 
the  art  of  architecture. 

The  Lord  God  wrote  with  his  own  finger  on 
the  "tables  of  stone,"  on  Mount  Sinai;  thus  show- 
ing that  the  science  of  letters  was  cultivated  and 
used  by  the  highest  Intelligence  of  the  eternal 
heavens. 

The  Lord  God  has  revealed  by  Ezekiel  the 
Prophet,  a  plan  for  the  survey  and  division  of 
Palestine  to  the  Twelve  Tribes  of  Israel,  on  their 


14  KEY   TO   THEOLOGY. 

return  to  the  land  of  their  fathers;  also  for  laying 
out  the  new  city  of  Jerusalem,  with  its  squares, 
blocks,  public  grounds  and  suburbs,  and  its  temple. 

Thus  Theology  includes  the  surveyor's  art,  and 
the  planning  of  cities,  as  well  as  temples,  and 
shows  that  these  arts  are  cultivated  in  heaven,  and 
that  the  very  highest  Intelligence  of  the  Heaven 
of  heavens  stoops,  or  condescends,  to  grace  these 
arts  by  His  own  particular  attention  and  example. 

In  the  Revelation  of  John  the  Apostle,  on  the 
Isle  of  Patmos,  we  have  a  specimen,  a  masterpiece, 
a  climax  of  all  that  is  great  and  grand  in  design, 
and  splendid  and  glorious  in  execution,  in  cities, 
thrones,  palaces,  streets,  pavements,  outgrounds, 
gates,  walks,  squares,  fountains,  rivulets,  gardens, 
fruits,  groves,  specimens  of  dress,  poetry,  song, 
music,  marriage,  bridal  dress,  feasting,  books,  lit- 
erature, public  worship,  prophesying,  prayer  and 
praise,  as  existing  in  and  around  the  palaces  of 
the  New  Jerusalem,  the  capital  of  heaven,  the  seat 
of  government  of  the  Eternal  King. 

The  very  gates  of  the  city  are  numbered  and 
named,  together  with  the  particular  names  of  the 
precious  stones  forming  the  foundations  thereof, 
the  gold  which  composed  the  pavement  of  the 
streets,  all  are  portrayed  in  the  description. 

And  what  is  still  more  marvelous,  all  this  sur- 
passing grandeur  of  design  and  stupendous  wis- 
dom and  display  in  execution,  were  explored,  com- 
prehended and  described  by  a  poor,  illiterate  fish- 
erman, by  the  aid  of  the  science  and  arts  of 
Theology. 

Having   reviewed    some    of   the    works    of   the 


KEY    TO   THEOLOGY.  15 

great  Head,  the  President  or  First  Teacher  in  the 
school  of  Theology,  we  will  still  continue  the  his- 
toric illustrations  of  this  wonderful  science,  as 
developed  and  exemplified  by  the  most  eminent 
students  and  professors  of  the  same. 

By  this  science  Adam  obtained  from  his  Father 
the  promise  of  the  eternal  dominion  over  the 
planet  on  which  he  was  placed. 

By  this  science  Enoch  overcame  death,  and 
ascended  to  a  higher  sphere  of  immortality  and 
eternal  life,  without  even  being  separated  from 
his  fleshy  tabernacle. 

By  this  science  Noah  foretold  the  flood,  pre- 
pared to  meet  the  event,  and,  with  his  family,  sur- 
vived the  same,  and  became  the  greatest  landed 
proprietor  since  Adam. 

By  the  perversion  and  unlawful  use  of  this 
science,  king  Nimrod  built  the  stupendous  Tower 
of  Babel,  but  was  frustrated,  and  his  plans  were 
destroyed  before  their  completion. 

By  this  science  various  tongues  and  languages 
were  instituted,  and  colonies,  the  germs  of  na- 
tions, planted  beyond  the  seas  and  in  all  the  earth. 

By  this  science  Abraham  escaped  the  idolatry 
and  priestcraft  of  the  Egyptians,  and  of  the  world 
around  him,  obtained  a  good  land  secured  to  him 
and  his -seed  by  an  immutable  oath  and  covenant, 
and  an  everlasting,  unchangeable  title. 

By  this  science  he  conversed  with  angels,  and 
was  favored  with  a  personal  interview  with  the 
Great  Head  and  Founder  of  the  science,  who 
blessed  him  and  his  wife,  promised  them  an  heir 


16  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

in  their  old  age,  and,  finally,  on  parting,  told  him 
His  design  on  Sodom  and  its  neighborhood. 

By  this  science  Lot  escaped  the  flames  of 
Sodom,  the  knowledge  being  communicated  by 
two  angels. 

By  this  science  Isaac  and  Jacob  also  obtained 
promises  and  conversed  with  angels. 

By  it  Joseph  was  exalted  from  a  dungeon  to  a 
palace,  for  the  salvation,  from  famine,  of  a  nation 
and  of  his  father's  house. 

By  this  science  Moses  performed  his  wonders 
in  Egypt,  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  in  the  wilderness. 

By  the  perversion  and  unlawful  use  of  this 
science  the  magicians  of  Egypt  withstood  Moses 
for  a  time,  and  performed  their  enchantments. 

By  this  science  Joshua  controlled  the  motions 
of  the  earth,  and  lengthened  out  the  day  by  a 
simple  command. 

By  this  science  the  walls  of  Jericho  were 
leveled  with  the  earth,  and  the  city  was  taken. 

By  this  science  the  Jordan  river  was  divided, 
while  a  nation  crossed  dry  shod,  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  promised  land. 

By  this  science  Elijah  controlled  the  heavens, 
that  it  rained  not  for  three  years  and  six  months 
in  Palestine.  And  by  it  he  called  forth  and  re- 
stored rain. 

By  it  he  overthrew  the  priests  of  Baal  and  the 
kingdom  of  Ahab,  put  an  end  to  the  royal  family 
of  this  idolatrous  king,  and  placed  Jehu  on  the 
throne. 

By  it  he  arose,  like  Enoch,  to  a  higher  sphere, 
without  returning  to  dust. 


T->  A  1     • 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  17 


By  this  science  Samuel  prophesied,  raised  up  a 
mighty  king  and  nation,  and  afterwards  dethroned 
Saul  and  exalted  an  obscure  shepherd  boy  to  the 
throne  of  Israel. 

By  this  science  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 
Daniel,  and  others,  foretold  the  fate  of  Babylon, 
Egypt,  Tyre,  Jerusalem,  and  other  cities  and  na- 
tions, and  the  exact  career  and  final  doom  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Belshazzar,  Cyrus,  and  other 
great  and  important  personages,  who  were  des- 
tined in  turn  to  influence  and  decide  the  fate  of 
nations. 

By  this  science  the  furnace  of  fire  was  over- 
come, and  the  mouths  of  lions  were  closed,  that 
no  harm  should  befall  the  holy  men  of  God. 

By  this  science  Zachariah,  Elizabeth,  John  the 
Baptist,  Simeon,  Anna,  Joseph,  Mary,  the  wise 
men  from  the  east,  and  the  shepherds  of  Judea, 
enjoyed  visions,  communion  with  angels  and  the 
spirit  of  prophecy,  so  as  to  understand  and  wel- 
come with  joy  the  events  of  the  birth  and  ap- 
proaching ministry  of  Jesus  Christ,  when,  as  yet, 
all  those  not  versed  in  this  science  were  in  dark- 
ness on  the  subject,  and  as  liable  to  reject  the 
Savior  as  to  receive  Him. 

Dreams  and  visions,  enjoyed  by  means  of  this 
science,  led  and  protected  the  Son  of  God  in  all 
His  career  of  mortal  life. 

Finally,  by  this  same  power  a  mighty  angel 
descended,  shook  the  earth,  frightened  the  Roman 
guards,  rolled  away  the  great  stone,  broke  the 
seal  of  the  tomb,  and  the  sleeping  body  of  Jesus 
Christ  came  to  life. 


18  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

By  this  power  the  risen  Jesus,  eating,  drinking, 
and  conversing  with  His  disciples,  after  His  resur- 
rection, commissioned  and  instructed  them  in  the 
same  science,  ordained  them  to  act  in  the  same, 
and  to  impart  its  power  to  others,  in  all  the  world, 
with  signs  following  them  that  believed. 

By  this  science  He  ascended  to  the  Father,  and 
lives  forever  in  the  flesh,  to  shed  forth  the  gifts 
and  powers  of  the  same  science,  according  to  His 
own  will,  and  the  will  of  His  Father,  to  reign 
henceforth  until  He  descends  to  the  earth,  con- 
quers death  in  a  last  great  conflict,  and  puts  all 
enemies  under  His  feet. 

By  this  same  power  His  Apostles,  being  clothed 
with  the  full  powers  of  the  same  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  ministered  the  powers  and  knowledge 
of  this  science  to  others,  both  Jew  and  Gentile, 
insomuch  that  the  sick  were  healed,  the  blind  saw, 
the  dumb  spake,  the  deaf  heard,  the  lame  walked, 
devils  were  cast  out,  and  the  dead  were  raised, 
while  everywhere  dreams,  visions,  the  ministering 
of  angels  and  the  gift  of  prophecy  were  enjoyed. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  19 


CHAPTER  II. 

DECLINE   AND   LOSS   OF  THIS    SCIENCE  AMONG 
THE  JEWS. 

O  horrid,   awful,   melancholy  sight! 

A  nation,  wont  to  soar  'mid  realms  of  light, 

Degraded,   fallen,   sunk  in  dark  despair, 

The  hiss,  the  scorn,  the  bye-word  everywhere; 

No  eye  to  pity,  and  no  arm  to  save, 

'Till  wearied  nature  finds  an  exile's  grave. 

IT  now  becomes  our  painful  task  to  trace  the 
decline  of  the  science  of  Theology  and  its  powers 
among  the  nations,  and  to  review  the  awful  con- 
sequences of  such  decline. 

We  will  commence  with  the  Jewish  nation. 

The  science  of  Theology,  as  we  have  just  re- 
viewed, was  enjoyed,  and  its  powers  were  won- 
derfully developed,  under  the  several  dispensations 
called  Patriarchal,  Mosaic  and  Jewish. 

There  had,  however,  been  a  great  decline,  a 
retrogression  of  the  powers  and  knowledge  of  the 
same  previous  to  their  restoration  by  John  the 
Baptist  and  Jesus  Christ. 

This  was  owing  to  the  general  prevalence  of 
sectarian  principles,  divisions,  precepts,  command- 
ments, and  doctrines  of  men,  by  which  the  law 
and  the  Prophets  were  made  void,  and  a  veil  was 
thrown  over  them,  or  over  the  hearts  of  men,  by 


20  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

which  means  they  were  misunderstood,  or,  rather, 
not  understood  at  all. 

It  therefore  became  the  duty  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  His  Apostles  and  Elders,  as  well  as  of  His 
forerunner,  to  reprove  those  sects,  denounce  their 
doctrines  and  traditions,  and  restore  that  which 
was  lost  in  this  great  science. 

This  restoration  was  at  first  confined  strictly  to 
the  nation  of  the  Jews.  But  seeing  they  turned 
from  it,  and  judged  themselves  unworthy  of  eter- 
nal life,  preferring  their  own  powerless  forms  and 
doctrines  to  the  science  of  revelation,  miracles, 
visions  and  prophecy,  which  had  ever  illuminated 
the  pathway  of  their  more  ancient  fathers,  the 
Apostles  turned  from  them,  by  the  commandment 
of  the  Lord,  and  transferred  this  science,  with  its 
keys  and  legitimate  powers,  to  the  Gentiles. 

The  nation  had  rejected  and  slain  the  Messiah, 
stoned  the  Prophets,  and  imprisoned  and  even 
murdered  many  of  the  Apostles  and  Elders;  and 
Jesus  had  already  in  tears  of  anguish,  announced 
their  doom:  "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that 
killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  which  are 
sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
chicken  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!  Be- 
hold, your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate.  For  I 
say  unto  you,  Ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth  till 
ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord." 

Again,  on  another  occasion,  the  Messiah  ut- 
tered His  voice,  saying,  "There  shall  be  great  dis- 
tress in  the  land,  and  wrath  upon  this  people. 


I 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  21 

And  they  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and 
shall  be  led  away  captive  into  all  nations:  and 
Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles, 
until  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled." 

Again  He  spake,  concerning  the  temple,  saying, 
"There  shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  an- 
other, that  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 

All  these  things,  foretold  by  the  -science  of 
Theology,  were  fulfilled  in  that  generation.  And 
Jerusalem  has  been  destroyed,  trodden  down  by 
the  Gentiles,  and  the  Jews  have  remained  in  cap- 
tivity among  the  nations  until  now. 

Our  readers  will  readily  discern  the  entire  loss 
of  the  science  and  powers  of  Theology  among  this 
nation,  the  time,  circumstances,  and  reasons  of  its 
decline,  and  the  time  or  circumstances  which  will 
restore  it  unto  them. 

They  lost  it  when,  by  the  hand  of  the  Apostles, 
it  was  taken  from  them  and  given  to  the  Gentiles. 

The  result  was,  the  destruction  of  their  city 
and  temple,  and  of  their  national  existence.  Their 
temple,  priesthood  and  offerings  were  no  longer 
attended  by  divine  power.  Its  outward  forms 
were,  therefore,  of  no  possible  use. 

From  that  very  time  to  the  present,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-three  of  the 
Christian  era,  the  voice  of  a  Prophet  has  not  been 
heard  among  the  Jews. 

Angels  have  not  ministered  unto  them. 

There  has  been  no  vision  from  the  Lord. 

No  dream  or  interpretation. 

No  answer  by  Urim  or  Thummim. 

No  prophet. 


22  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

No  voice. 

No  sound. 

No  reproof. 

No  comforting  whisper. 

All  is  silence,  stillness,  solemn  blackness  of 
despair. 

All  is  as  the  similitude  and  shadow  of  death. 

O  the  weariness,  the  painful  suspense,  the 
watchings,  the  wonderings,  the  anxieties,  the  pain^ 
and  sorrows  of  eighteen  centuries!  O  the  mist  of 
ages  which  has  shrouded  a  nation  as  it  were  in 
the  gloom  of  an  endless  night! 

When,  O  when,  will  their  day  dawn,  and  the 
day  star  of  their  ancient  science  appear  above  the 
horizon,  disperse  the  cloud,  and  usher  in  the  morn- 
ing of  a  brighter  day? 

When  they  shall  welcome  a  messenger  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord. 

When  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  are  fulfilled. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  PROGRESS,  DECLINE,  AND  FINAL  LOSS  OF  THE 
SCIENCE  OF  THEOLOGY  AMONG  THE  GENTILES 
— FORESHADOWINGS  OF  ITS  RESTORATION  FOR 
THE  USHERING  IN  OF  THE  MILLENNIUM.  - 

O   Mystic  Babel,  long  has  been  thy  reign! 
What  direful  evils  follow  in  thy  train! 
The  veil  is   rent,   thy  mystery   revealed, 
Angels  cry  wo!   and  God  thy  doom  has  sealed. 
The  nations,  from  thy  long  and  dreary  night, 
Are  waking  now  to   everlasting  light. 

RETURNING  to  the  Gentile  Church,  we  find  the 
science     of     Theology,    with    all    its    miraculous 


I 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  23 

powers  of  visions,  dreams,  angels,  revelations, 
prophecy,  healings,  etc.,  everywhere  enjoyed.  It 
had  abated  none  of  its  powers,  in  its  transition 
from  Jew  to  Gentile.  The  wild  branches,  being 
engrafted  into  the  good  old  stock,  immediately 
partook  of  the  root  and  fatness  of  the  tame  olive 
tree,  and  thus  was  produced  the  natural  fruit. 

But  Paul,  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  in 
his  writings  to  the  Romans,  cautioned  them  to 
beware  lest  they  should  fall  away  after  the  same 
example  as  the  Jews  had  done  before  them. 

Said  he,  "If  God  spared  not  the  natural 
branches,  take  heed  lest  He  also  spare  not  thee." 

John  the  Apostle  also  predicted  the  rise  and 
universal  sway  of  a  certain  mystical  power,  a 
Babel  of  spiritual  or  religious  confusion,  in  short, 
"Mystery,  Babylon  the  great,  the  mother  of  har- 
lots and  .abominations  of  the  earth." 

This  power  should  bear  rule  among  all  nations. 
The  kings  and  rulers  of  the  earth  should  be 
drunken  with  the  wine  of  her  fornication.  The 
merchants  of  the  earth  should  become  rich 
through  the  abundance  of  her  delicacies. 

This  power  should,  according  to  the  Prophet 
Daniel  and  Apostle  John,  "wear  out  the  Saints  of 
the  Most  High;"  "change  times  and  laws;"  "be 
drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  Saints,  and  with 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus;"  "destroy  the 
mighty  and  the  holy  people;"  "make  war  with  the 
Saints,  and  overcome  them"  until  a  set  time. 

All  these  predictions,  and  many  others,  foretell 
the  doom  of  the  Gentile  Church,  its  destruction 
from  the  earth,  and  the  consequent  decline  and 


24  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

cessation  of  the  science  of  Theology,  and  of  its 
powers  and  blessings  in  the  Gentile  world. 

Connected  with  these  predictions,  we  have  the 
most  positive  prophetic  declarations  of  Holy  Writ 
concerning  the  overthrow  and  entire  destruction 
of  this  same  mystical  power  which  had  made  war 
with  the  Saints. 

Its  judgments  are  set  forth  as  far  more  terrible 
than  those  which  befell  Jerusalem.  Plague,  pes- 
tilence, sword,  earthquake,  and  the  flame  of  de- 
vouring fire  will  cause  her  to  cease  to  be. 

Then  will  usher  in  the  Kingdom  of  our  God, 
and  the  power  of  His  Christ.  Then  will  the  Saints 
of  the  Most  High  take  the  Kingdom  and  the 
greatness  of  the  Kingdom,  under  the  whole 
heaven. 

Thus  are  to  be  revived  the  ancient  powers  and 
blessings,  the  knowledge  and  wisdom  of  the  sci- 
ence of  Theology. 

In  the  fulfillment  of  the  foregoing  predictions, 
the  science  of  Theology  declined,  and  passed  away 
from  among  the  Gentiles,  just  in  proportion  as  the 
Church,  or  the  Saints  of  the  Most  High,  were 
warred  against  and  overcome. 

For  years,  centuries,  ages,  there  had  been  no 
voice  from  heaven  among  the  Gentiles,  any  more 
than  among  the  Jews.  They  have  fallen  "atter 
the  same  example  of  unbelief,"  notwithstanding 
the  caution  of  their  great  Apostle. 

No  Gentile  Prophet  had  arisen  and  uttered  his 
voice. 

No  kind  angel  had  ministered  to  them. 

No  vision  from  the  Lord. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  25 

No  answer. 

No  inspired  dream. 

No  voice. 

No  sound  from  the  heavens. 

No  revelation  has  burst  upon  the  silence  of 
midnight  darkness  which  has  brooded  over  the 
nations. 

Or,  if  such  voice,  such  vision,  such  Prophet 
has  occasionally  burst  forth  with  the  testimony  of 
Jesus,  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  his  testimony  has 
been  unheeded  by  the  mass  of  the  people  called 
Christians,  his  voice  silenced  in  death,  or  he  and 
his  followers  have  been  banished  from  society,  to 
wander  in  the  mountains,  forests,  caves,  or  deserts 
of  the  earth;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  compelled  to 
drag  out  an  existence  in  the  solitude  of  the  dun- 
geon. 

Ages,  centuries  have  passed,  and  oh!  what  suf- 
fering! what  torture!  what  rivers  of  tears!  what 
oceans  of  blood!  what  groanings!  what  strong 
crying  and  tears  on  the  earth!  what  prayers  in 
heaven! 

"How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou 
not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth?" 

The  fire  consumed. 

The  sword  devoured. 

Hell's  artillery  bellowed. 

Devils  hugely  grinned. 

Widows  and  orphans  mourned. 

Heaven  wept. 

Saints  prayed. 

Justice  stood  aghast. 


26  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Mercy,  retiring,  dropped  a  tear  of  blood. 

Angels,  starting,  half  drew  their  glittering 
swords. 

And  the  Gods,  in  solemn  council,  decreed  a 
just  vengeance. 

Protest  upon  protest!  reforms  and  re-reforms; 
revolutions,  struggles,  exertions  of  every  kind,  of 
mere  human  invention,  have  been  tried,  and  tried 
in  vain.  The  science  of  Theology,  with  all  its 
keys  and  powers,  once  lost,  could  never,  consist- 
ent with  the  ancient  prophetic  testimony,  be  re- 
stored to  either  Jew  or  Gentile,  until  the  full  time 
should  arrive,  "The  times  of  restitution  of  all  things, 
zvhich  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  His  holy 
prophets,  since  the  world  began." 

The  time  for  a  mighty  angel  bo  ny  in  the  midst 
of  heaven,  having  the  everlasting  Gospel  to  preach 
to  them  who  dwell  on  the  earth;  to  every  nation, 
kindred  tongue,  and  people.  (See  John's  revela- 
tion.) 

The  time  of  judgment  for  "Mystery  Babylon." 

The  times  of  "the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles." 

The  times  for  the  grafting  in  again  of  all  the 
natural  branches  of  Israel. 

Then,  and  not  till  then,  could  this  science,  the 
keys,  the  powers  of  Theology,  be  restored  to  man. 

No  individual  or  combined  human  action  could 
obtain  or  restore  again  these  keys,  this  science. 

A  mighty  angel  held  the  keys  of  this  science 
for  the  last  days.  A  mighty  angel  was  to  restore 
the  keys  of  the  ancient  Priesthood,  Apostleship, 
power  and  blessings.  A  voice  from  heaven  was 
to  reveal  the  time,  and  send  forth  the  cry,  "Come 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  27 

out  cf  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her 
sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues.  For 
her  sins  have  reached  unto  heaven,  and  God  hath 
remembered  her  iniquities, " 

All  the  darkness  of  the  middle  ages,  all  the 
priestcraft  or  kingcraft  of  every  age,  since  the 
slaughter  of  the  Apostles,  all  the  oppressions,  per- 
secutions, or  abuses  of  power,  all  the  extrav- 
agances and  idleness  on  the  one  hand,  and  all  the 
sufferings  and  miseries  of  the  toiling  millions  for 
want  of  the  comforts  of  life  on  the  other,  all  the 
ignorance,  superstitions,  errors,  divisions  and  con- 
tentions which  have  transpired  in  the  name  of 
"Christianity"  down  to  the  present  time,  have 
been  the  results  of  the  decline  and  loss  of  the 
keys  and  powers  of  the  science  of  Theology,  or 
for  want  cf  attention  to  them  when  existing  on 
the  earth. 

Nor  will  the  "Christian"  world  ever  attain  to 
any  considerable  degree  of  knowledge,  power,  or 
union  in  religious  progress,  until  they  discover 
their  loss  of  this  science,  become  sensible  of  the 
need  of  its  restoration,  and  humble  themselves  as 
in  the  dust,  and  welcome  a  messenger  who  comes 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  with  a  commission  from 
heaven,  and  with  keys  committed  by  the  angels  of 
God,  a  new  apostolic  commission,  a  restoration 
of  the  Kingdom  and  Church,  and  power  and  gifts 
of  God;  a  new  dispensation,  universally  pro- 
claimed in  all  the  world,  with  power  and  signs 
following;  and  the  whole  consummated  by  the 
glorious  restoration  of  Israel  and  Judah  to  their 
own  land  and  nationality,  and  to  the  true  fold  of 


28  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

God;  together  with  the  second  advent  of  Messiah 
and  all  His  Saints  with  Him,  to  overthrow  "Mys- 
tery Babylon,"  and  reign  on  the  earth. 

Such  are  the   events,  such  is   the  remedy  for 
the  past  and  present  evils. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  RISE,  PROGRESS,  DECLINE,  AND  LOSS  OF  THE 
SCIENCE  OF  THEOLOGY  ON  THE  WESTERN  HEM- 
ISPHERE, AS  BROUGHT  TO  LIGHT  BY  THE  LATE 
DISCOVERY  OF  ANCIENT  AMERICAN  RECORDS. 

The  spirit  world  is  moved,  the  silence  broken, 
The  ancient  Seers  from  out  the  ground  have  spoken. 
The  appointed  years  on  time's  fleet  wings  have  fled, 
And  voices  whisper  from  the  ancient  dead. 
Volumes  of  truth  the  sacred  archives  yield. 
The  past,  the  glorious  future,  stand  revealed. 

WE  are  now,  of  necessity,  carried  back  in  our 
research  to  the  cradle  of  nations,  the  Tower  of 
Babel,  in  order  to  trace  the  history  of  this  won- 
derful science,  from  the  first  emigration  of  a 
colony  to  the  Western  Hemisphere,  till  its  final 
decline  and  overthrow,  for  the  knowledge  of  which 
we  are  indebted  to  many  ancient  records,  written 
by  the  fathers,  or  ancient  students  and  professors 
of  this  science,  on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Among  these  we  will  make  honorable  mention 
of  the  Prophets  Jared,  Ether,  Lehi,  Nephi,  Mosiah, 
Alma,  Abinadi,  Mormon  and  Moroni,  who  wrote 
and  prophesied  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  dur- 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  29 

ing  the  several  ages  intervening  between  the  time 
of  the  dispersion  at  Babel,  and  the  fifth  century 
of  the  Christian  era. 

By  the  science  of  Theology  Jared  and  his 
brother  led  a  colony  from  the  great  tower  to  the 
sea  coast,  conversing  with  the  Lord,  and  walking 
by  the  light  of  His  revelations  on  the  way. 

By  this  science  they  were  instructed  in  the 
building  of  eight  barges  for  uses  similar  to  the 
ark  of  Noah. 

By  this  science  their  leader  saw  God,  face  to 
face,  and  talked  with  him  in  plain  humility,  as 
one  man  talks  with  another,  thus  obtaining  a 
knowledge  of  His  future  coming  and  kingdom, 
and  of  the  great  events  of  all  ages  and  genera- 
tions. 

By  this  science  they  were  preserved  on  the 
great  waters  three  hundred  and  forty-four  days, 
and  were  then  landed,  with  their  eight  barges, 
in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  together  with  their 
women,  children,  cattle  and  seeds  of  every  kind. 

By  this  science  they  became  a  great  nation, 
peopling  the  entire  continent,  and  enjoying  all 
the  blessings  of  civilization  and  heavenly  light. 

By  the  abuse  and  neglect  of  it  they  were  at 
length  exterminated,  in  the  days  of  their  Prophet 
Ether,  who  live  about  six  hundred  years  before 
Christ  came  in  the  flesh. 

By  this  science  the  Prophets  Lehi  and  Nephi 
came  out  with  a  colony  from  Jerusalem,  in  the 
days  of  Jeremiah  the  Prophet,  and  after  wander- 
ing for  eight  years  in  the  wilderness  of  Arabia, 
came  to  the  sea  coast,  built  a  vessel,  obtained  from 


30  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

the  Lord  a  director  to  guide  them  on  the  way, 
and  finally  landed  in  safety  on  the  coast  of  what 
is  now  called  Chili,  in  South  America. 

By  this  science  they  also  became  a  great  na- 
tion, enjoyed  many  visions,  had  the  ministering  of 
angels,  and  of  many  prophets,  by  which  means 
they  knew  of  the  coming,  birth,  ministry,  death, 
resurrection,  and  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ. 

By  this  science  they  also  enjoyed  a  personal 
visit  from  the  risen  Redeemer,  who  descended 
from  heaven  in  their  presence,  taught  them  His 
'  Gospel,  chose  and  ordained  twelve  of  their  num- 
ber and  prophesied  many  things. 

By  this  science  these  twelve  and  others  estab- 
lished the  Gospel,  Church  and  ordinances  of 
God  throughout  the  entire  Western  Hemisphere. 

By  this  science  their  sick  were  healed,  demons 
were  expelled,  the  lame  walked,  the  blind  saw,  the 
dumb  spake,  the  deaf  heard,  and  the  dead  were 
raised. 

By  this  science  three  of  those  Twelve,  having 
a  change  wrought  upon  them,  tarried  in  the  flesh 
upon  the  earth,  ministered  the  Gospel  and  its 
blessings  nearly  four  hundred  years,  and  then 
withdrew  from  the  people  because  of  their  iniq- 
uity, took  away  the  keys  of  Priesthood  and  of  the 
Gospel,  and  its  powers,  sealed  up  the  records, 
and  caused  the  work  of  healing,  and  of  gifts  and 
miracles,  to  cease  from  among  the  people,  because 
of  iniquity,  bloodshed  and  persecution. 

By  this  science  they  yet  lived  in  the  flesh  upon 
the  earth,  holding  keys  of  power  upon  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 


31 


By  this  science  (being  held  in  reserve  above 
the  powers  of  Mystery  Babylon)  they*  will  soon 
go  forth,  prophesying,  preaching  the  Gospel,  and 
doing  mighty  signs  and  wonders  in  the  midst  01 
all  nations,  in  order  to  complete  and  mature  the 
Gentile  fullness,  and  restore  the  tribes  of  Israel. 
Nor  is  this  all;  John,  the  beloved  disciple  among 
the  Jews,  is  yet  alive  in  the  flesh,  and  is  held  in 
reserve,  to  "prophesy  again  before  many  peoples, 
and  nations,  and  tongues,  and  kings,"  as  it  ib 
written. 

But  to  return  to  our  history  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  After  the  science  of  Theology  had 
ceased  to  be  cultivated  and  enjoyed  among  this 
branch  of  Israel,  terrible  wars  and  bloodshed  en- 
sued. Governments  and  civilization  were  broken 
up,  cities  and  countries  were  overthrown,  all  rec- 
ords and  vestiges  of  truth  were  diligently  sought 
and  destroyed  as  far  as  obtained. 

And,  finally,  the  whole  face  of  the  country 
was  soaked,  as  it  were,  in  blood,  and  strewed  with 
the  dead  and  dying.  The  wild  beasts  of  the  forest 
and  fowls  of  heaven  devoured  their  flesh,  and  their 
bones  were  left  to  moulder  unburied.  In  other 
instances  bodies  were  heaped  up,  and  covered 
with  mounds  of  earth.  All  government  became 
extinct,  and  the  countries  were  overrun  by  tribes 
and  bands  of  robbers  at  war  with  each  other. 

In  this  situation  the  records  of  Moroni  leave 
them,  in  the  fifth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and 
much  in  the  same  situation,  with  home  exceptions, 
the  Europeans  found  them  after  a  lapse  of  another 
thousand  years. 


32  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

O,  who  can  contemplate  the  disgusting  deform- 
ity, the  dark  features,  the  filthy  habits,  the  idleness, 
the  cruelty,  the  nakedness,  the  poverty,  the  misery, 
the  sufferings,  the  ignorance  of  the  descendants  of 
this  once  favored  branch  of  the  royal  blood  of 
Abraham  and  Joseph,  and  not  weep  for  very 
anguish^  while  his  bosom  yearns,  and  the  foun- 
tains, the  depths  of  his  inmost  soul,  are  stirred 
and  moved  within  him! 

Reader,  all  these  things  have  come  upon  them 
on  account  of  the  abuses,  the  consequent  decline  and 
final  loss  of  the  keys  and  powers  of  the  science  of 
Theology. 

But  comfort  your  heart,  their  redemption  is  at 
the  door. 


CHAPTER  V. 
KEYS  OF  THE  MYSTERIES  OF  THE  GODHEAD. 

Eternal   Father,    Being  without  end! 
Thy  glorious  fullness  who  can  comprehend! 
Thine  own  infinitude  alone  is  fraught 
With  attributes  to  swell  a  human  thought 
To  grasp  Thy  knowledge,  or  Thy  nature  scan, 
As  Father  to  the  endless  race  of  man. 

THIS  is  LIFE  ETERNAL:  TO  KNOW  THE  ONLY  TRUE 

AND  LIVING  GOD,  AND  JESUS   CHRIST  WHOM   HE  HATH 
SENT. 

SINCE  the  decline  of  the  science  of  Theology,  a 
mystery,  dark  and  deep,  has  shrouded  the  human 
mind,  in  regard  to  the  person  and  nature  of  the 
Eternal  Father,  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  33 

Councils  of  the  fathers,  and  wise  men  of  Chris- 
tendom, have  assembled  again  and  again,  in  order 
to  solve  the  mystery  of  Godliness,  and  fix  some 
standard  or  creed  upon  which  all  parties  might 
rest  and  be  agreed. 

This,  however,  was  not  in  their  power.  It  is  im- 
possible for  the  world  by  its  wisdom  to  find  out 
God.  "Neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save 
the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal 
Him." 

The  key  to  the  science  of  Theology  is  the  key 
of  divine  revelation.  Without  this  key,  no  man,  no 
assemblage  of  men,  ever  did,  or  ever  will  know 
the  Eternal  Father  or  Jesus  Christ.. 

When  the  key  of  revelation  was  lost  to  man, 
the  knowledge  of  God  was  lost.    And  as  life  eter 
nal  depended  on  the  knowledge  of  God,  of  course 
the  key  of  eternal  life  was  lost. 

Q  the  mysteries,  the  absurdities,  the  conten- 
tions, the  quarrels,  the  bloodshed,  the  infidelity, 
the  senseless  and  conflicting  theories  which  have 
grown  and  multiplied  among  sectaries  on  this 
subject! 

Among  these  theories  we  will  notice  one  which 
is,  perhaps,  more  extensively  received  by  different 
sects  than  any  other.  The  language  runs  thus; 
"There  is  one  only  living  and  true  God,  without 
body,  parts  or  passions;  consisting  of  three  per- 
sons, the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost." 

It  is  painful  to  the  human  mind  to  be  com- 
pelled to  admit  that  such  wonderful  inconsistencies 
of  language  or  ideas  have  ever  found  place  in  any 
human  creed.  Yet,  so  it  is. 


34  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

It  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  there  is  a 
God  who  does  not  exist,  a  God  who  is  composed 
of  nonentity,  who  is  the  negative  of  all  existence, 
who  occupies  no  space,  who  exists  in  no  time, 
who  is  composed  of  no  substance,  known  or  un- 
known, and  who  has  no  powers  or  properties  in 
common  with  any  thing  or  being  known  to  exist 
or  which  can  possibly  be  conceived  of  as  existing 
either  in  the  heavens  or  on  the  earth. 

Such  a  God  could  never  be  seen,  heard  or  felt 
by  any  being  in  the  universe. 

There  never  has  been  a  visible  idol  worshiped 
among  men,  which  was  so  powerless  as  this  "God 
without  bod}%  parts  or  passions." 

The  god  of  Egypt,  the  crocodile,  could  destroy. 

The  images  of  different  nations  could  be  felt 
and  seen. 

The  Peruvian  god,  the  sun,  could  diffuse  its 
genial  warmth,  light  and  influence. 

But  not  so  with  the  God  without  "body,  parts 
or  passions." 

That  which  has  no  parts  has  no  whole. 

Beings  which  have  no  passions  have  no  soul. 

Before  we  can  introduce  the  keys  and  powers 
of  practical  Theology  to  the  understanding  of  men 
in  this  age,  we  must,  of  necessity,  place  within 
their  comprehension  some  correct  ideas  of  the 
true  God. 

It  is  written  that,  "without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  Him."  Those  who  do  not  please  Him 
can  never  partake  of  the  powers  and  gifts  of  the 
science  of  Theology,  because  the  keys  and  powers 
of  this  science  emanate  from  Him  as  a  free  gift, 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  35 

foul  they  are  never  given  to  those  with  whom  He 
is  not  well  pleased.  The  individual  who  would 
partake  of  this  power  must  therefore  have  faith 
in  Him.  But  how  can  he  believe  in  a  being  of 
whom  he  has  no  correct  idea? 

So  vague,  so  foreign  from  the  simple,  plain 
truth,  are  the  ideas  of  the  present  age,  so  be- 
clouded is  the  modern  mind  with  mysticism,  spirit- 
ual nonentity,  or  immateriality  in  nearly  all  of  its 
ideas  of  the  person  or  persons  of  the  Deity,  that 
we  are  constrained  to  use  the  language  of  the 
ancient  Apostle,  as  addressed  to  the  learned  of 
Athens,  "Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  worship, 
Him  declare  I  unto  you" 

Although  there  are  facts  in  our  own  existence 
which  are  beyond  our  present  comprehension  or 
capacity,  which  is  true,  in  a  higher  sense,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Godhead,  still  the  limited  knowledge 
we  are  able  to  comprehend  in  relation  to  our- 
selves may  at  least  be  rational,  and  be  as  clearl) 
conveyed  and  understood  as  any  other  subject. 
So  with  our  knowledge  of  Deity.  Although  there 
are  facts  beyond  our  reach  in  relation  to  His 
existence,  attributes  and  power,  yet  that  which  we 
may  know  and  comprehend  or  express  of  Him 
should  be  divested  of  all  mystery,  and  should  be  as 
clearly  conceived,  expressed  and  conveyed  as  any 
other  item  of  truth  or  of  science. 

Jesus  Christ,  a  little  babe  like  all  the  rest  of  us 
have  been,  grew  to  be  a  man,  was  rilled  with  a 
divine  essence,  called  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which 
he  comprehended  and  spake  the  truth  in  power 
and  authority,  and  by  which  he  controlled  the  ele- 


36  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

ments  and  imparted  health  and  life  to  those  who 
were  prepared  to  partake  of  the  same. 

This  man  died,  being  put  to  death  by  wicked 
men. 

He  arose  from  the  dead  the  third  day,  and  ap- 
peared to  His  disciples.  These  disciples,  on  seeing 
Him,  supposed  Him  to  be  a  spirit  only. 

But  their  risen  Lord  adopted  the  most  simple 
means  of  dispersing  their  mysticism,  their  spiritual 
vagaries  or  immateriality.  He  called  upon  them  to 
handle  Him  and  see.  "For"  said  He,  "a  spirit  hath 
not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have." 

They  accordingly  handled  Him,  examined  the 
prints  of  the  nails  in  His  hands  and  feet,  and  the 
mark  of  the  spear  in  His  side.  But,  as  if  this  was 
not  enough,  in  order  to  familiarize  them  still  more 
with  the  facts  of  a  material  or  tangible  immortal- 
ity, He  ate  and  drank  with  them,  partaking  of  a 
broiled  fish  and  an  honeycomb. 

In  short,  He  was  with  them  for  forty  days,  in 
which  He  walked,  talked,  ate,  drank,  taught, 
prophesied,  commanded,  commissioned,  reasoned 
with  and  blessed  them,  thus  familiarizing  to  them 
that  immortality  and  eternal  life  which  He  wished 
them  to  teach  in  the  world. 

He  then  ascended,  in  their  presence,  toward 
that  globe  of  glory  where  dwelt  His  Father  and 
their  Father,  His  God  and  their  God. 

While  He  was  yet  in  sight  in  the  open  firma- 
ment, and  they  stood  gazing  upward,  behold!  two 
men  stood  by  them  in  white  raiment,  and  said: 

"Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into 
heaven?  This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  37 

you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye 
have  seen  Him  go  into  heaven." 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  sample  of  an  immortal 
God,  a  God  who  is  often  declared  in  the  Scrip- 
tures to  be  like  His  Father,  "being  the  brightness 
of  His  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His  person," 
and  possessing  the  same  attributes  as  His  Father, 
in  all  their  fullness;  a  God  not  only  possessing 
body  and  parts,  but  flesh  and  bones  and  sinews, 
and  all  the  attributes,  organs,  senses  and  affec- 
tions of  a  perfect  man. 

He  differs  in  nothing  from  His  Father,  ex- 
cept in  age  and  authority,  the  Father  having  the 
seniority,  and,  consequently,  the  rigth,  according 
to  the  patriarchal  laws  of  eternal  Priesthood,  to 
preside  over  Him,  and  over  all  His  dominions, 
forever  and  ever. 

While,  on  the  one  hand,  this  God  claims  af- 
finity and  equality,  as  it  were,  with  His  Father, 
He  claims  on  the  other  hand,  affinity  and  equality 
with  His  brethren,  on  the  earth,  with  this  dif- 
ference, however,  that  His  person  is  a  specimen 
of  Divine,  eternal  humanity,  immortalized,  and 
with  attributes  perfected;  while  His  brethren  who 
dwell  in  mortal  flesh,  although  children  of  the 
same  royal  Parent  in  the  heavens,  are  not  yet 
immortalized,  as  it  regards  their  fleshly  taber- 
nacles, and  are  not  perfected  in  their  attributes: 
and  although  joint  heirs;  are  younger,  He  being 
the  first-born  among  many  brethren  in  the  spirit- 
ual world.  They  are  therefore  subject  to  Him, 

Rut  every  man  who  is  eventually  made  perfect, 
raised  from  the  dead,  and  filled  or  quickened  with 


38  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

a  fullness  of  celestial  glory,  will  become  like  Him 
in  every  respect,  physically  and  in  intellect,  at- 
tributes or  powers. 

The  very  germs  of  these  Godlike  attributes, 
being  engendered  in  man,  the  offspring  of  Deity, 
only  need  cultivating,  improving,  developing  and 
advancing  by  means  of  a  series  of  progressive 
changes,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  fountain  Head, 
the  standard,  the  climax  of  Divine  Humanity. 

The  difference  between  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
Father  is  this:  one  is  subordinate  to  the  other, 
does  nothing  of  Himself,  independently  of  the 
Father,  but  does  all  things  in  the  name  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  Father,  being  of  the  same 
mind  in  all  things.  The  difference  between  Jesus 
Christ  and  another  immortal  and  celestial  man  is 
this:  The  man  is  subordinate  to  Jesus  Christ, 
does  nothing  in  and  of  himself,  but  does  all 
things  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  by  His  au- 
thority, being  of  the  same  mind,  and  ascribing 
all  the  glory  to  Him  and  His  Father. 

On  account  of  the  double  relationship  of  Jesus 
Christ,  with  God  the  Father  on  one  hand,  and 
with  man  on  the  other,  many  have  adopted  the 
creed  that  "two  whole  and  perfect  natures"  were 
blended  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  He 
was  every  way  a  God,  and  every  way  a  man;  as 
if  God  and  man  were  two  distinct  species.  This 
error  came  by  reason  of  not  knowing  ourselves. 
For  just  in  proportion  as  we  comprehended  our- 
selves in  our  true  light,  and  our  relationships 
and  affinities  with  the  past,  present  and  future, 
with  time  and  eternity,  with  Gods,  angels,  spirits 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  39 

and  men,  who  have  gone  before  us,  and  who 
will  come  after  us,  so,  in  proportion,  we  may  be 
able  to  benefit  by  the  keys  of  the  mysteries  of 
the  Godhead,  or  in  other  words,  to  know  and 
comprehend  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Father. 

Gods,  angels  and  men  are  all  of  one  species, 
one  race,  one  great  family,  widely  diffused  among 
the  planetary  systems,  as  colonies,  kingdoms,  na- 
tions, etc. 

The  great  distinguishing  difference  between 
one  portion  of  this  race  and  another  consists  in 
the  varied  grades  of  intelligence  and  purity,  and 
also  in  the  variety  of  spheres  occupied  by  each, 
in  the  series  of  progressive  being. 

An  immortal  man,  possessing  a  perfect  organi- 
zation of  spirit,  flesh  and  bones,  and  perfected  in 
his  attributes,  in  all  the  fullness  of  celestial  glory, 
is  called  a  God. 

An  immortal  man,  in  progress  of  perfection,  or 
quickened  with  a  lesser  degree  of  glory,  is  called 
an  angel. 

An  immortal  spirit  of  man,  not  united  with  a 
fleshly  tabernacle,  is  called  a  spirit. 

An  immortal  spirit,  clothed  with  a  mortal  tab- 
ernacle, is  called  a  man. 

It  may  then  consistently  enough  be  said,  that 
there  are,  in  a  subordinate  sense,  a  plurality  of 
Gods,  or  rather  of  the  sons  of  God;  although  there 
is  one  Supreme  Head,  who  is  over  all,  and  through 
all,  and  in  all  His  sous,  by  the  power  of  His 
Spirit. 

Jesus  Christ  and  His  Father  are  two  persons, 
in  the  same  sense  as  John  and  Peter  are  two  per- 


40  KEY   TO  THEOLOGY. 

sons.  Each  of  them  has  an  organized,  individual 
tabernacle,  embodied  in  material  form,  and  com- 
posed of  material  substance,  in  the  likeness  of 
man,  and  possessing  every  organ,  limb  and 
physical  part  that  man  possesses. 

There  is  no  more  mystery  connected  with  their 
oneness,  than  there  is  in  the  oneness  of  Enoch  and 
Elijah,  or  of  Paul  and  Silas. 

Their  oneness  consists  of  a  oneness  of  spirit, 
intelligence,  attributes,  knowledge  or  power. 

If  Enoch,  Elijah,  Abraham,  Peter,  Paul,  and 
millions  of  others  ever  attain  to  the  immortal  life, 
and  their  fleshly  tabernacles  be  quickened  by  a 
fullness  of  celestial  life  and  light,  intelligence  and 
power,  then  it  can  be  said  of  them,  They  are  one,  as 
the  Father  and  the  Son  are  one. 

It  could  then  be  said  of  each  of  them,  in  him 
dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the  powers  and  attributes 
of  the  Eternal  God,  or,  in  other  words,  he  pos- 
sesses endless  life,  together  with  all  intelligence, 
knowledge,  light  and  power. 

He  therefore  has  the  same  mind  as  all  the 
others,  is  in  communication  and  in  perfect  union 
with  each  and  all  of  them. 

All  these  are  Gods,  or  sons  of  God;  they  are 
the  Kings,  Princes,  Preists  and  Nobles  ,of  Eternity. 
But  over  them  all  there  is  a  Presidency  or  Grand 
Head,  who  is  the  Father  of  all.  And  next  to  Him 
is  Jesus  Christ,  the  eldest  son,  and  first  heir  of  all 
the  realms  of  light. 

Every  person  knows,  by  reflection,  that  intelli- 
gence may  be  imparted  without  diminishing  the 
store  possessed  by  the  giver.  Therefore  it  fol- 


KEY   TO  THEOLOGY.  41 

lows,  that  millions  of  individual  beings  may  each 
rceive  all  the  attributes  of  eternal  life,  and  light, 
and  power. 

Again  it  follows,  that  in  the  use  of  this  power, 
by  consent  and  authority  of  the  Head,  any  one  of 
these  Gods  may  create,  organize,  people,  govern, 
control,  exalt,  glorify,  and  enjoy  worlds  on  worlds, 
and  the  inhabitants  thereof;  or,  in  other  words, 
each  of  them  can  find  room  in  the  infinitude  of 
space,  and  , unoccupied  chaotic  elements  in  the 
boundless  storehouse  of  eternal  riches,  with  which 
to  erect  for  himself  thrones,  principalities  and 
powers,  over  which  to  reign  in  still  increasing 
might,  majesty  and  dominion,  for  ever  and  ever. 

All  these  kingdoms,  together  with  their  Kings, 
are  in  subordination  to  the  great  Head  and  Father 
of  all,  and  to  Jesus  Christ  the  first-born,  and  first 
heir  among  the  sons  of  God. 

All  these  kingdoms,  with  all  their  intelligences, 
are  so  many  acquisitions  to  His  dominion  who  is 
Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings,  and  of  whom  it 
is  written  by  the  Prophet  Isaiah,  "Of  the  increase 
of  His  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end." 

All  these  are  so  many  colonies  of  our  race,  mul- 
tiplied, extended,  transplanted  and  existing  for 
ever  and  ever,  as  occupants  of  the  numberless 
planetary  systems  which  do  now  exist,  or  which 
will  roll  into  order  and  be  peopled  by  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Holy' Spirit,  in  obedience  to  the  man- 
dates of  the  sons  of  God. 

These  kingdoms  present  every  variety  and  de- 
gree in  the  progress  of  the  great  science  of  life, 
from  the  lowest  degradation  amid  the  realms  of 


42  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

death,  or  the  rudimental  stages  of  elementary  ex- 
istence, upward  through  all  the  ascending  scale, 
or  all  the  degrees  of  progress  in  the  science  of 
eternal  life  and  light,  until  some  of  them  in  turn 
rise  to  thrones  of  eternal  power. 

Each  of  these  Gods,  including  Jesus  Christ  and 
His  Father,  being  in  possession  of  not  merely  an 
organized  spirit,  but  a  glorious  immortal  body  of 
flesh  and  bones,  is  subject  to  the  laws  which  gov- 
ern, of  necessity,  even  the  most  refined  order  of 
physical  existence. 

All  physical  element,  however  embodied,  quick- 
ened or  refined,  is  subject  to  the  general  laws  nec- 
essary to  all  existence. 

Some  of  these  laws  are  as  follows: 

First.  Each  atom,  or  embodiment  of  atoms, 
necessarily  occupies  a  certain  amount  of  space. 

Second.  No  atom,  or  embodiment  of  atoms, 
can  occupy  the  identical  space  occupied  by  other 
atoms  or  bodies. 

Third.  Each  individual  organized  intelligence 
must  possess  the  power  of  self-motion  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree. 

Fourth.  All  voluntary  motion  implies  the  will 
to  originate  and  direct  such  motion. 

Fifth.  Motion,  of  necessity,  implies  that  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  time  is  necessary  in  passing  from 
one  portion  of  space  to  another*. 

These  laws  are  absolute  and  unchangeable  in 
their  nature,  and  apply  to  all  intelligent  agencies 
which  do  or  can  exist. 

They,  therefore,  apply  with  equal  force  to  the 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  43 

great,  supreme,  Eternal  Father  of  the  heavens  and 
of  the  earth,  and  to  His  meanest  subjects. 

It  is,  therefore,  an  absolute  impossibility  for 
God  the  Father,  or  Jesus  Christ,  to  be  everywhere 
personally  present. 

The  omnipresence  of  God  must  therefore  be 
understood  in  some  other  way  than  of  His  bodily 
or  personal  presence. 

This  leads  to  the  investigation  of  that  sub- 
stance called  the  Holy  Spirit. 

As  the  mind  passes  the  boundaries  of  the  visi- 
ble world,  and  enters  upon  the  confines  of  the 
more  refined  and  subtle  elements,  it  finds  itself 
associated  with  certain  substances  in  themselves 
invisible  to  our  gross  organs,  but  clearly  mani- 
fested to  our  intellect  by  their  tangible  operations 
and  effects. 

The  very  air  we  breathe,  although  invisible  to 
our  sight,  is  clearly  manifested  to  our  sense  of 
feeling.  Its  component  parts  may  be  analyzed. 
Nay  more,  the  human  system  itself  is  an  appar- 
atus which  performs  a  chemical  process  upon  that 
element.  It  is  received  into  the  system  by  the 
act  of  respiration,  and  there  immediately:  under- 
goes the  separation  of  its  component  parts. 

The  one  part,  retained  and  incorporated  in  the 
animal  system,  diffuses  life  and  animation,  by 
supplying  the  necessary  animal  heat,  etc.,  while 
the  other  part,  not  adapted  to  the  system,  is  dis- 
charged from  the  lungs  to  mingle  with  its  native 
element. 

There  are  several  of  these  subtle,  invisible  sub- 
stances but  little  understood  as  yet  by  man,  and 


44  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

their  existence  is  only  demonstrated  by  their 
effects,  some  of  which  are  recognized  under 
several  terms,  electricity,  galvanism,  magnetism, 
animal  magnetism,  spiritual  magnetism,  essence, 
spirit,  etc. 

The  purest,  most  refined  and  subtle  of  all  these 
substances,  and  the  one  least  understood,  or  even 
recognized,  by  the  less  informed  among  mankind, 
is  that  substance  called  the  Holy  Spirit. 

This  is  the  great,  positive,  controlling  element 
of  all  other  elements.  It  is  omnipresent  by  rea 
son  of  its  infinitude,  and  it  pervades  all  things. 

It  is  the  agent  or  executive,  by  which  God  or- 
ganizes and  puts  in  motion  all  worlds,  and  which, 
by  the  mandate  of  the  Almighty,  or  of  any  of  His 
commissioned  servants  performs  all  the  mighty 
wonders,  signs  and  miracles  ever  manifested  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  dividing  of  the  sea,  the 
removing  of  a  mountain,  the  raising  of  the  dead, 
or  the  healing  of  the  sick. 

Those  beings  who  receive  of  its  fullness  are 
called  sons  of  God,  because  they  are  perfected  in 
all  its  attributes  and  powers,  and,  being  in  com- 
munication with  it,  can,  by  its  use,  perform  all 
things. 

Those  beings  who  receive  not  a  fullness,  but 
a  measure  of  it,  can  know  and  perform  some 
things,  but  not  all. 

This  is  the  true  light  which  in  some  measure 
illuminates  all  men.  It  is,  in  its  less  refined  exist- 
ence, the  physical  light  which  reflects  from  the 
sun.  moon,  and  stars,  and  other  substances,  and 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  45 

by  reflection  on  the  eye,  makes  visible  the  truths 
of  the  outward  world. 

It  is,  also,  in  its  higher  degrees,  the  intellectual 
light  of  our  inward  and  spiritual  organs,  by  which 
we  reason,  discern,  judge,  compare,  comprehend 
and  remember  the  subjects  within  our  reach. 

Its  inspiration  constitutes  instinct  in  animal 
life,  reason  in  man,  vision  in  the  prophets,  and  is 
continually  flowing  from  the  Godhead  throughout 
all  His  creations. 

God  sits  enthroned  in  the  midst  of  all  His  crea- 
tions, and  is  filled  and  encircled  with  light  un- 
approachable by  those  of  the  lower  spheres. 

He  associates  with  myriads  of  His  own  begot- 
ten sons  and  daughters  who,  by  translation  or 
resurrection,  have  triumphed  over  death. 

His  ministers  are  sent  forth  from  His  presence 
to  all  parts  of  His  dominions. 

His  Holy  Spirit  centres  in  His  presence,  and 
communicates  with  and  extends  to  the  utmost 
verge  of  His  dominions,  comprehending  and  con- 
trolling all  things  under  the  immediate  direction 
of  His  own  will,  and  the  will  of  all  those  in  com- 
munication with  Him,  in  worlds  without  end! 


46  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
ORIGIN    OF   THE   UNIVERSE. 

Boundless  infinitude  of  time,   and  space, 

And  elements  eternal!     Who  can  trace. 

Earth  with  its  treasures,  heaven  with  its  spheres, 

Time's  revolutions,   eternity's  years? 

But  what  are  all  these,  when  measured  by  thee, 

But  marks  on  thy  dial,  or  motes  on  thy  sea? 

THE  idea  of  a  God  without  "body,  parts  or  pas- 
sions," is  not  more  absurd  or  inconsistent  than 
that  modern  popular  doctrine,  that  all  things  were 
created  from  nonentity,  or,  in  other  words,  that 
something  originated  from  nothing. 

It  is  a  self  evident  truth,  which  will  not  admit  of 
argument,  that  nothing  remains  nothing.  Nonen- 
tity is  the  negative  of  all  existence.  This  negative 
possesses  no  property  or  element  upon  which  the 
energies  of  creative  power  can  operate. 

This  mysticism  must,  therefore,  share  the  fate 
of  the  other  mysteries  of  false  theology  and 
philosophy,  which  have  for  ages  shrouded  the 
world  in  the  sable  curtains  of  a  long  and  dreary 
nitflit.  It  must  evaporate  and  disappear  as  a  mere 
creation  of  fancy,  while,  in  its  place,  are  intro- 
duced the  following  self-evident  and  incontro- 
vertible facts: 

First.  There  has  always  existed  a  boundless 
infinitude  of  space. 

Second.  Intermingled  with  this  space  there 
exist  all  the  varieties  of  the  elements,  properties, 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  47 

or  things  of  which  intelligence  takes  cognizance; 
which  elements  or  things  taken  altogether  com- 
pose what  is  called  the  Universe. 

Third.  The  elements  of  all  these  properties  or 
things  are  eternal,  uncreated,  self-existing.  Not 
one  particle  can  be  added  to  them  by  creative 
power.  Neither  can  one  particle  be  diminished 
or  annihilated. 

Fourth.  These  eternal,  self-existing  elements 
possess  in  themselves  certain  inherent  properties 
or  attributes,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. 

These  elements  have  been  separated,  by  philos- 
ophers, into  two  grand  divisions,  viz.:  "Physical 
and  Spiritual."  To  a  mind  matured,  or  quickened 
with  a  fullness  of  intelligence,  so  as  to  be  con- 
versant with  all  the  elements  of  nature,  there  is 
no  need  for  the  distinction  implied  in  such  terms, 
because  all  things  which  do  exist  are  eternal  reali- 
ties, in  their  elementary  existence. 

Who  then  can  define  the  precise  point,  in  the 
scale  of  elementary  existence,  which  divides  be- 
tween the  physical  and  spiritual  kingdoms?  There 
are  eyes  which  can  discern  the  most  refined  par- 
ticles of  elementary  existence,  there  are  hands  and 
fingers  to  whose  refined  touch  all  things  are 
tangible. 

In  the  capacity  of  mortals,  however,  some  of 
the  elements  are  tangible,  or  visible,  and  others 
invisible.  Those  which  are  tangible  to  our  senses, 
we  call  physical;  those  which  are  more  subtle  and 
refined,  we  call  spiritual. 

In  contemplating  the  works  of  creation,  then, 
the  student  must  not  conceive  the  idea  that  space, 


48  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

or  time,  or  element  or  intelligence  was  originated, 
but  rather  that  these  are  eternal. 

The  whole  vast  structure  of  universal  organ- 
ized existence  presents  undeniable  evidence  of 
three  facts,  viz.: 

First.  The  eternal  existence  of  the  elements 
of  which  it  is  composed. 

Second.  The  eternal  existence  of  the  attri- 
butes of  intelligence  and  wisdom  to  design. 

Third.  The  eternal  existence  of  power  to 
operate  upon  and  control  these  eternal  elements, 
so  as  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  designer. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  last  chapter 
recognizes  a  family  of  Gods,  or,  in  other  words,  a 
species  of  spirit  beings  who  have  physical  taber- 
nacles of  flesh  and  bones,  in  the  form  of  man,  but 
so  constructed  as  to  be  capable  of  eternal  life; 
that  these  tabernacles  are  quickened,  or  animated 
by  a  fullness  of  that  holiest  of  all  elements,  which 
is  called  the  Holy  Spirit. 

A  General  Assembly,  Quorum  or  Grand  Coun- 
cil of  the  Gods,  with  their  President  at  their  head, 
constitute  the  designing  and  creating  power. 

The  motive  power  which  moves  to  action  this 
grand  creative  power,  is  wisdom,  which  discovers 
a  use  for  all  these  riches  and  inspires  the  carrying 
out  of  all  the  designs  in  an  infinite  variety  of 
utility  and  adaptation. 

Wisdom  inspires  the  Gods  to  multiply  their 
species  and  to  lay  the  foundation  for  all  the  forms 
of  life,  to  increase  in  numbers,  and  for  each  to 
enjoy  himself  in  the  sphere  to  which  he  is  adapted, 
and  in  the  possession  and  use  of  that  portion  of 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  49 

the  elements  necessary  to  his  existence  and  hap- 
piness. 

In  order  to  multiply  organized  bodies  com- 
posed of  spiritual  element,  worlds  and  mansions 
composed  of  spiritual  element  would  be  necessary 
as  a  home,  adapted  to  their  existence  and  enjoy- 
ment. As  these  spiritual  bodies  increased  in  num- 
bers, other  spiritual  worlds  would  be  necessary  on 
which  to  transplant  them. 

Again.  In  order  to  enable  these  organized 
spirits  to  take  upon  them  a  fleshly  tabernacle, 
physical  worlds,  with  all  their  variety  and  full-' 
ness,  would  be  necessary  for  their  homes,  food, 
clothing,  etc.,  that  they  might  be  begotten,  sus- 
tained and  born,  that  they  might  live,  die,  and  rise 
again  to  receive  their  inheritances  on  their  re- 
spective earths. 

Hence,  the  great  work  of  regeneration  of 
worlds  or  the  renovation  and  adaptation  of  the 
elements  to  the  resurrection  and  eternal  state  of 
man,  would  also  be  endless,  or  eternally  pro- 
gressive. 

Through  every  form  of  life,  and  birth,  and 
change,  and  resurrection,  and  every  form  of 
progress  in  knowledge  and  experience,  the  candi- 
dates for  eternal  life  must  look  upon  the  elements 
as  their  home;  hence  the  elements,  upon  the  prin- 
ciple of  adaptation,  must  keep  pace  with  the  pos- 
sessors who  use  them,  in  all  the  degrees  of  pro- 
gressive refinement. 

While  room  is  found  in  infinite  space;  while 
there  are  particles  of  unorganized  element  in 
N'ature's  storehouse;  while  the  trees  of  Paradise 


30  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY, 

yield  their  fruits,  or  the  Fountain  of  Life  its  river; 
while  the  bosoms  of  the  Gods  glow  with  affection; 
while  eternal  charity  endures  or  eternity  itself 
rolls  its  successive  ages,  the  heavens  will  multiply, 
and  new  worlds  and  more  people  be  added  to  the 
kingdoms  of  the  Fathers. 

Thus,  in  the  progress  of  events,  unnumbered 
millions  of  worlds  and  of  systems  of  worlds  will 
necessarily  be  called  into  requisition,  and  be  filled 
by  man,  and  beast,  and  fowl,  and  tree,  and  all  the 
vast  varieties  of  beings  and  things  which  ever 
budded  and  blossomed  in  Eden,  or  thronged  the 
hills  and  valleys  of  the  celestial  Paradise. 

When,  in  the  endless  progression  of  events,  the 
full  time  had  arrived  for  infinite  wisdom  to  or- 
ganize and  people  this  globe  which  we  inhabit,  the 
chaotic  elements  were  arranged  in  order.  It  ap- 
pears, at  the  commencement  of  this  grand  work, 
that  the  elements,  which  are  now  so  beautifully 
arranged  and  adapted  to  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  were  found  in  a  state  of  chaos. 

Earth,  water,  soil,  atmosphere— in  short,  the 
entire  elements  of  which  this  mass  was  composed 
seem  to  have  been  completely  compounded  or 
mingled  into  one  vast  chaos,  and  the  whole  over- 
whelmed with  a  darkness  so  dense  as  to  obscure 
the  light  of  heaven. 

Let  us  turn  from  the  contemplation  of  scenes 
so  sublimely  fearful.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  man- 
date came,  darkness  fled,  the  veil  was  lifted,  light 
pierced  the  gloom,  and  earth  was  made  visible. 
Oh  what  a  scene!  A  world  without  landscape, 
wtihont  vegetation,  without  animal  life,  without 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  51 

man  or  animated  beings.  No  sound  broke  on  the 
stillness,  save  the  voice  of  the  moaning  winds  and 
of  dashing,  foaming  waters.  Again,  a  voice  comes 
booming  over  the  abyss,  and  echoing  amid  the 
wastes,  the  mass  of  matters  hears  and  trembles, 
and  lo!  the  sea  retires,  the  muddy,  shapeless  mass 
lifts  its  head  above  the  waters.  Molehills  to 
mountains  grow.  Huge  islands  next  appear,  and 
continents  at  length  expand  to  view,  with  hill  and 
vale,  in  one  wide,  dreary  waste,  unmeasured  and 
untrodden. 

The  surface,  warmed  and  dried  by  the  cheering 
rays  of  the  now  resplendent  sun,  is  prepared  for 
the  first  seeds  of  vegetation. 

A  Royal  Planter  now  descends  from  yonder 
world  of  older  date,  and  bearing  in  his  hand  the 
choice  seeds  of  the  older  Paradise,  he  plants  them 
in  the  virgin  soil  of  our  new-born  earth.  They 
grow  and  flourish  there,  and,  bearing  seed,  replant 
themselves,  and  thus  clothe  the  naked  earth  with 
scenes  of  beauty  and  the  air  with  fragrant  incense. 
Ripening  fruits  and  herbs  at  length  abound. 
When  lo!  from  yonder  world  is  transferred  every 
species  of  animal  life.  Male  and  female,  they 
come,  with  blessings  on  their  heads,  and  a  voice 
is  heard  again,  "Be  fruitful  and  multiply." 

Earth,  its  mineral,  vegetable  and  animal  wealth, 
its  Paradise  prepared,  down  comes  from  yonder 
world  on  high  a  son  of  God,  with  his  beloved 
spouse.  And  thus  a  colony  from  heaven,  it  may 
be  from  the  sun,  is  transplanted  on  our  soil.  The 
blessings  of  their  Father  are  upon  them,  and  the 


52  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

first  great  law  of  heaven  and  earth  is  again  re- 
peated, "Be  fruitful  and  multiply/' 

Hence  the  nations  which  have  swarmed  our 
earth. 

In  after  years,  when  Paradise  was  lost  by  sin; 
•when  man  was  driven  from  the  face  of  his  heav- 
enly Father,  to  toil,  and  droop,  and  die;  when 
heaven  was  veiled  from  view,  and,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, man  was  no  longer  counted  worthy  to 
retain  the  knowledge  of  his  heavenly  origin;  then 
darkness  veiled  the  past  and  future  from  the 
heathen  mind;  man  neither  knew  himself,  from 
whence  he  came,  nor  whither  he  was  bound.  At 
length  a  Moses  came,  who  knew  his  God,  and 
would  fain  have  led  mankind  to  know  Him  too, 
and  see  Him  face  to  face.  But  they  could  not 
receive  His  heavenly  laws  or  bide  His  presence. 

Thus  the  holy  man  was  forced  again  to  veil  the 
past  in  mystery,  and  in  the  beginning  of  his  his- 
tory assign  to  man  an  earthly  origin. 

Man,  moulded  from  the  earth,  as  a  brick! 

Woman,  manufactured  from  a  rib! 

Thus,  parents  still  would  fain  conceal  from  bud- 
ding manhood  the  mysteries  of  procreation,  or  the 
sources  of  life's  ever-flowing  river,  by  relating 
some  childish  tale  of  new-born  life,  engendered  in 
the  hollow  trunk  of  some  old  tree,  or  springing 
with  spontaneous  growth  like  mushrooms  from 
out  the  heaps  of  rubbish.  O  man!  when  wilt  thou 
cease  to  be  a  child  in  knowledge? 

Man  as  we  have  said,  is  the  offspring  of  Deity. 
The  entire  mystery  of  the  past  and  future,  with 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  53 

regard  to  his  existence,  is  not  yet  solved  by  mor- 
tals. 

We  first  recognize  him  as  an  organized  indi- 
vidual or  intelligence,  dwelling  with  his  Father  in 
the  eternal  mansions.  This  organized  spirit  we  call 
a  body,  because,  although  composed  of  the  spir- 
itual elements,  it  possesses  every  organ  after  the 
pattern  and  in  the  likeness  or  similitude  of  the 
outward  or  fleshly  tabernacle  it  is  destined  event- 
ually to  inhabit.  Its  organs  of  thought,  speech, 
sight,  hearing,  tasting,  smelling,  feeling,  etc.,  all 
exist  in  their  order  as  in  the. physical  body;  the 
one  being  the  exact  similitude  of  the  other. 

This  individual,  spiritual  body,  was  begotten  by 
the  Heavenly  Father,  in  His  own  likeness  and 
image,  and  by  the  laws  of  procreation. 

It  was  born  and  matured  in  the  heavenly  man- 
sions, trained  in  the  school  of  love  in  the  family 
circle,  and  amid  the  most  tender  embraces  of 
parental  and  fraternal  affection. 

In  this  primeval  probation,  in  its  heavenly 
home,  it  lived  and  moved  as  a  free  and  rational 
intelligence,  acting  upon  its  own  agency,  and,  like 
all  intelligence,  independent  in  its  own  sphere. 
It  was  placed  under  certain  laws  and  was  re- 
sponsible to  its  great  Patriarchal  Head. 

This  has  been  called  a  "first  estate."  And  it 
is  intimated  that  of  the  spirits  thus  placed  upon 
their  agency,  one-third  failed  to  keep  their  first 
estate  and  were  thrust  down  and  reserved  in 
chains  of  darkness  for  future  judgment.  As  these 
are  not  permitted  to  multiply  their  species,  or  to 
move  forward  in  the  scale  of  progressive  being. 


54  KKV  TO  TIIKOLOCY. 

while  in  this  state  of  bondage  and  condemnation, 
we  will  trace  them  no  further,  for  their  final 
destiny  is  not  revealed  to  mortals. 

The  spirits  which  kept  their  first  estate  were 
permitted  to  descend  below,  and  to  obtain  taber- 
nacles of  flesh  in  the  rudimental  existence  in 
which  we  find  them  in  our  present  world^  and 
which  we  will  call  a  second  estate. 

In  passing  the  veil  which  separates  the  first 
and  second  estates,  man  becomes  unconscious, 
and  on  awakening  in  his  second  estate,  a  veil  is 
wisely  thrown  over  all  the  past. 

In  his  mortal  tabernacle  he  remembers  not 
the  scenes,  the  endearing  associations,  of  his 
first  primeval  childhood  in  the  heavenly  mansions. 
He  therefore  commences  anew  in  the  lessons  of 
experience,  in  order  to  start  on  a  level  with  the 
new  born  tabernacle,  and  to  redevelop  his  in- 
tellectual faculties  in  a  progressive  series,  which 
keep  pace  with  the  development  of  the  organs 
and  faculties  of  the  outward  tabernacle. 

During  "his  progress  in  the  flesh,  the  Holy 
Spirit  may  gradually  awaken  his  faculties;  and 
in  a  dream  or  vision,  or  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
reveal,  or  rather  awaken  the  memory  to  a  partial 
vision,  or  to  a  dim  and  half  defined  recollection  of 
the  intelligence  of  the  past.  He  sees  in  part, 
and  he  knows  in  part;  but  never  while  tabernacled 
in  mortal  flesh  will  he  fully  awake  to  the  intel- 
ligence of  his  former  estate.  It  surpasses  his 
comprehension,  is  unspeakable  and  even  unlawful 
to  be  uttered. 

Having   kept   his    second    estate    and    filled    the 


KEY   TO  THEOLOGY. 


55 


measure  of  his  responsibilities  in  the  flesh,  he 
passes  the  veil  of  death  and  enters  a  world  of 
spirits,  which  will  be  treated  on  more  fully  under 
its  appropriate  head. 

Filling  the  measure  of  ^  his  responsibilities  in 
the  world  of  spirits,  he  passes  by  means  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  into  his  third  estate 
and  finds  himself  clothed  upon  with  an  eternal 
body  of  flesh  and  bones,  with  every  sense  and 
every  organ  restored  and  adapted  to  their  proper 
use. 

He  is  thus  prepared  with  organs  and  faculties 
adapted  to  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  every 
element  of  the  physical  and  spiritual  worlds,  which 
can  gratify  the  senses  or  conduce  to  the  happiness 
of  intelligences.  He  associates,  converses,  loves, 
thinks,  acts,  moves,  hears,  tastes,  smells,  eats, 
drinks  and  possesses. 

In  short  all  the  elements  necessary  to  his  hap- 
piness, being  purified,  exalted  and  adapted  to  the 
sphere  in  which  he  exists,  are  placed  within  his 
lawful  reach,  and  made  subservient  to  his  use. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
DESTINY  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

The  mystic  future,   with  its  depths  profound, 
For  ages  counted  as  forbidden  ground, 
Xow  lifts  its  veil,  that  man  may  penetrate 
The  secret  springs,   the  mysteries  of  fate; 
Know  whence  he  is,  and  whither  he  is  bound, 
And  why  the  spheres  perform  their  ample  round. 

THE  Grand  Council  having  developed  the  vast 

structure  of   the   IICMVCHS  ;and   the   earth,   with    all 


56  KEY   TO  TilKOUKiY. 

their  fullness,  with  the  evident  design  of  utility 
and  adaptation  to  certain  definite  uses,  it  well  be- 
comes us  to  watch  their  progress,  and  to  study 
with  diligence  their  future  and  final  destiny. 

From  a  general  traditional  belief  in  an  imma- 
terial hereafter,  many  have  concluded  that  the 
earth  and  all  material  things  would  be  annihilated 
as  mere  temporary  structures;  that  the  material 
body,  and  the  planet  it  occupies,  make  no  part  of 
eternal  life  and  being;  in  short,  that  God,  angels, 
and  men  become  at  last  so  lost,  dissolved,  or 
merged  in  spirituality  or  immateriality  as  to  lose 
all  adaptation  to  the  uses  of  the  physical  ele- 
ments; that  they  will  absolutely  need  no  foot- 
stool, habitation,  possession,  mansion,  home,  fur- 
niture, food,  or  clothing;  that  the  whole  vast 
works  and  beautiful  designs  of  the  visible  creation 
are  a  kind  of  necessary  evil  or  clog  on  the  spir- 
itual life,  and  are  of  no  possible  use  except  to 
serve  for  the  time  being  for  the  home  and  sus- 
tenance of  beings  in  their  grosser  or  rudimental 
state. 

What  a  doleful  picture!  With  what  gloom  and 
melancholy  must  intelligences  contemplate  the 
vast  structure  as  viewed  in  this  light! 

What  a  vastness  of  design! 

What  a  display  of  wisdom! 

What  a  field  of  labor  in  execution  do  the  works 
of  creation  present  to  the  contemplative  mind! 

Yet  all  this  wisdom  of  design,  all  this  labor  of 
execution,  after  serving  a  momentary  purpose,  to 
be  thrown  away  as  an  encumbrance  u>  real  exist- 
ence and  happiness! 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  57 

All  these  "spiritual,"  "immaterial"  Vagaries 
have  no  foundation  in  truth. 

The  earth  and  other  systems  are  to  undergo  a 
variety  of  changes  in  their  progress  towards  per- 
fection. Physical  and  spiritual  elements  are  the 
ri.iri.Mits  of  these  changes.  But  it  is  an  eternal,  un- 
changeable fact,  a  fixed  law  of  nature,  easily  dem- 
onstrated and  illustrated  by  chemical  experiment, 
that  no  active  force  or  potent  element  can  anni- 
hilate a  particle  of  matter,  to  say  nothing  of  a 
whole  globe. 

.  /  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  are  promised  by 
the  sacred  writers.  Or,  in  other  words,  the  plan- 
etary systems  are  to  be  changed,  purified,  refined, 
exalted  and  glorified,  in  the  similitude  of  the  res- 
urrection, by  which  means  all  physical  evil  or  im- 
perfection will  be  done  away. 

In  their  present  state  they  are  adapted  to  the 
rudimental  state  of  man.  They  are,  as  it  were,  the 
nurseries  for  man's  physical  embryo  formation. 
Their  elements  afford  the  means  of  nourishing  and 
sustaining  the  tabernacle,  and  of  engendering  and 
strengthening  the  organ  of  thought  and  mind, 
wherein  are  conceived  and  generated  thoughts 
and  affections  which  can  only  be  matured  and  con- 
summated in  a  higher  sphere,  thoughts  pregnant 
with  eternal  life  and  love. 

As  the  mind  enlarges,  the  aspirations  of  an 
eternal  being,  once  ennobled  and  honored  in  the 
councils  of  heaven,  among  the  sons  of  God,  reach 
forth  too  high,  and  broad,  and  deep,  to  be  longer 
adapted  to  the  narrow  sphere  of  mortal  life.  His 
body  is  imprisoned,  chained  to  the  earth,  while  his 


58  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY, 

mind  would  soar  aloft  and  grasp  the  intelligence, 
wisdom  and  riches  of  the  boundless  infinite. 

His  rudimental  body  must  therefore  pass  away, 
and  be  changed  so  as  to  be  adapted  to  a  wider 
and  more  glorious  sphere  of  locomotion,  research, 
action,  and  enjoyment. 

When  the  planet  on  which  he  dwells  has  con- 
ceived, brought  forth  and  nourished  the  number 
of  tabernacles  assigned  to  it  in  its  rudimental 
state,  by  infinite  wisdom,  it  must  needs  be  acted 
upon  by  a  chemical  process.  Purifying  elements, 
such,  for  instance,  as  fire,  must  needs  be  employed 
to  bring  it  through  an  ordeal,  a  refinement,  a  puri- 
fication, a  change  commensurate  with  that  which 
had  before  taken  place  in  the  physical  tabernacles 
of  its  inhabitants.  Thus  renovated,  it  is  adapted 
to  resurrected  man. 

When  man,  and  the  planet  on  which  he  lives, 
with  all  its  fullness,  shall  have  completed  all  their 
series  of  progressive  changes,  so  as  to  be  adapted 
to  the  highest  glories  of  which  their  several  char- 
acters and  species  are  capable,  then  the  whole  will 
be  annexed  to,  or  numbered  with  the  eternal 
heavens,  and  will  there  fulfill  their  eternal  rounds, 
being  another  acquisition  to  the  mansions  or 
eternally  increasing  dominions  of  the  great  Crea- 
tor and  Redeemer. 

Worlds  are  mansions  for  the  home  of  intelli- 
gences. 

Intelligences  exist  in  order  to  enjoy. 

Joy,  in  its  fullness,  depends  on  certain  princi- 
ples, viz.,  life  eternal,  love  eternal,  peace  eternal, 
wealth  eternal,  etc. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  59 

Without  the  first,  enjoyment  lacks  durability. 

Without  the  second,  it  can  hardly  be  said  to 
exist. 

Without  the  third,  it  would  not  be  secure. 

Without  the  fourth,  it  must  be  limited,  etc. 

Eternal  life,  in  its  fullness,  implies  a  personal 
spiritual  intelligence  in  the  likeness  of  its  own 
species  and  clothed  upon  with  an  outward  taber- 
nacle of  eternal,  incorruptible  flesh  and  bones. 
This  state  of  existence  can  only  be  attained  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  and  its  eternal  re-union 
with  the  spirit. 

Eternal  life  thus  attained,  and  endowed  with 
the  eternal  attributes  of  intelligence  and  love, 
could  never  exercise  or  derive  enjoyment  from  the 
affections  of  the  latter,  unless  associated  with 
other  beings  endowed  with  similar  attributes. 

Hence  the  object  or  necessity  of  eternal  kin- 
dred ties,  associations  and  affections,  exercised  as 
the  attributes  of  that  charity  which  never  ends. 

The  third  proposition,  viz.:  eternal  peace, 
could  never  be  secured  without  the  development 
of  eternal  law  and  government,  which  would  pos- 
sess in  itself  the  attributes  of  infinite  truth,  good- 
ness and  power.  Any  government,  short  of  this, 
could  never  guarantee  eternal  peace.  It  would  be 
liable  to  be  overthrown  by  the  lack  of  truth  to 
discern,  disposition  to  execute,  or  power  to  en- 
force the  measures  necessary  to  insure  peace. 

The  fourth  proposition,  viz.:  eternal  wealth, 
must,  of  necessity,  consist  of  an  everlasting  in- 
heritance or  title,  defined  and  secured  by  this 
rternnl  government,  to  portions  of  the  organized 


(>«  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

elements  in  their  pure,  incorruptible  and  eternal 
state. 

In  order  to  be  wealthy,  eternal  man  must  pos- 
sess a  certain  portion  of  the  surface  of  some 
eternal  planet  adapted  to  his  order  or  sphere  of 
existence. 

This  inheritance,  incorruptible,  eternal  in  the 
heavens,  must  be  sufficiently  extensive  for  his 
accommodation,  with  all  his  family  dependencies. 
Tt  must  also  comprise  a  variety  of  elements 
adapted  to  his  use  and  convenience.  Eternal  gold, 
silver,  precious  stones  and  other  precious  mate- 
rials would  be  useful  in  the  erection  and  furnish- 
ing of  mansions  and  of  public  and  private  dwell- 
ings or  edifices. 

These  edifices  combined,  or  arranged  in  wis- 
dom, would  constitute  eternal  cities.  Gardens, 
groves,  walks,  rivulets,  fountains,  flowers  and 
fruits  would  beautify  and  adorn  the  landscape, 
please  the  eye,  the  taste,  the  smell,  and  thus  con- 
tribute gladness  to  the  heart  of  man. 

Silks,  linens,  or  other  suitable  materials  would 
be  necessary,  to  adorn  his  person,  and  to  furnish 
and  beautify  his  mansions. 

In  short,  eternal  man  in  possession  of  eternal 
worlds,  in  all  their  variety  and  fullness,  will  eat, 
drink,  think,  converse,  associate,  assemble,  dis- 
perse, go,  come,  possess,  improve,  love  and  enjoy. 
He  will  increase  in  riches,  knowledge,  power, 
might,  majesty  and  dominion  in  worlds  without 
end. 

Every  species  of  the  animal  creation  ever  or- 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  61 


ganized  by  creative  goodness,  or  that  ever  felt  the 
pangs  of  death,  or  tittered  a  groan  while  subject 
to  the  king  of  terrors,  or  exulted  in  the  joys  of 
life  and  sympathy,  and  longed  for  the  redemption 
of  the  body,  will  have  part  in  the  resurrection,  and 
will  live  forever  in  their  own  spheres  in  the  pos- 
session of  peace  and  a  fullness  of  joy  adapted  to 
their  several  capacities. 


O  child  of  earth,  conceived  in  corruption ! 

Brought  forth  in  pain  and  sorrow!  sojourning 

In  a  world  of  mourning,  'mid  sighs  and  tears, 

And  groans,  and  awaiting  in  sadness  thy  home. 

In  the  gloomy  grave,  as  food  for  worms, 

Lift  up  thy  head,  cast  thine  eyes  around  thee, 

Behold  yon  countless  hosts  of  shining  orbs, 

Yon  worlds  of  light  and  life.     Then  turn  to  earth; 

Survey  the  solid  globe,  its  mineral  wealth, 

Its  gems,  its  precious  stones,  its  gold,  its  springs, 

Its  gardens,   forests,   fruits  and  flowers, 

Its  countless  myriads  of  breathing  life, 

From  mote  to  man,  through  all  the  varied  scale 

Of   animated  being. 

Visit  the  gloomy  caverns  of  the  dead, 

The  ancient  sepulchre,  where  e'en  the  worm 

Of  death  himself  has  died  for  want  of  food, 

And  bones  disjointed  are  crumbled  fine,  and 

Mingled  with  the  dust. 

Nay,   deeper  still,   descend   the  fathomless 

Abyss  of  souls  condemned,  in  darkness  chained. 

Or  thrust  in  gloomy  dungeons  of  despair, 

Where  the  very  names  of  mercy  and  of  hope, 

And  of  death's  Conqueror  remain  unknown. 

Observe  with  care  the  whole,  indulge  in  tears, 

But  hope,  believe,  and   clothed  with  charity 

Which  never  fails,  thine  eyes  enlightened, 

Thy  person  clad  in  light  ethereal, 

Time  fades,   and  opens  on  eternity. 


62  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Again  review  the  scene  beheld  before. 

You   startle,   seem   surprised,   confused,   o'erwhelmed ! 

Death  is  conquered,  corruption  is  no  more, 

All  is  life,  and  the  word  ETERNITY 

Is  inscribed  in  characters  indelible 

On  every  particle  and  form  of  life. 

Socrates,  Plato,  Confucius  and  many  other 
philosophers  and  divines  have  written  largely  on 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  or  spirit  of  man. 
Some  of  these  have  suffered,  with  joy  and  cheer- 
fulness, imprisonment,  torture,  and  even  death, 
with  only  this  limited  view  of  eternal  existence. 

Could  these  martyrs  to  a  portion  of  truth  so 
limited,  and  yet  so  full  of  hope  and  consolation, 
have  handled  immortal  flesh  and  bones  in  the  per- 
sons of  Enoch  or  Elijah  translated,  or  of  Jesus 
raised  from  the  dead;  could  they  have  learned 
from  their  sacred  lips,  and  realized  the  full  import 
of  that  joyful  sentence, 

"Behold!    I  make  all  things  new;" 

could  they  have  contemplated  eternal  worlds  of 
matter  in  all  its  elements  and  forms  of  animal  life, 
indissoluble  and  everlasting;  could  they  have  be- 
held eternal  man,  moving  in  the  majesty  of  God, 
amid  the  planetary  systems,  grasping  the  knowl- 
edge of  universal  nature,  and  with  an  intellect  en- 
lightened by  the  experience  and  observations  of 
thousands  and  even  millions  of  years;  could  they 
have  had  a  glimpse  of  all  this,  and  heard  the 
promise, 


KEY   TO  THEOLOGY.  63 

"There  shall  be  no  more  death," 


issuing  from  the  Fountain  of  Truth,  prompted  by 
infinite  benevolence  and  charity,  re-echoing  amid 
the  starry  worlds,  reaching  down  to  earth,  vibrat- 
ing, with  a  thrill  of  joy,  all  the  myriads  of  ani- 
mated nature,  penetrating  the  gloomy  vaults  of 
death  and  the  prisons  of  the  spirit  world,  with  a 
ray  of  hope,  and  causing  to  spring  afresh  the  well- 
springs  of  life  and  joy  and  love,  even  in  the  lonely 
dungeans  of  despair,  O,  how  would  their  bosoms 
have  reverberated  with  unutterable  joy  and  tri- 
umph, in  view  of  changing  worlds! 

Could  the  rulers  of  this  world  have  beheld,  or 
even  formed  a  conception  of,  such  riches,  such 
nobility,  such  an  eternal  and  exceeding  weight  of 
glory,  they  would  have  accounted  the  wealth, 
pleasures,  honors,  titles,  dignities,  glories,  thrones, 
principalities  and  crowns  of  this  world  as  mere 
toys,  the  playthings  of  a  day,  dross,  not  worth  the 
strife  and  toil  of  acquiring,  or  the  trouble  of  main- 
taining, except  as  a  duty  or  troublesome  respon- 
sibility. 

With  this  view  of  the  subject,  what  man  so 
base,  so  grovelling,  so  blind  to  his  own  interests 
as  to  neglect  those  duties,  self  denials,  sacrifices 
which  are  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a  part  in 
the  first  resurrection,  and  a  far  more  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory  in  that  life  which 
never  ends? 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
KEY   OF   KNOWLEDGE,   POWER,   AND  GOVERNMENT. 

Heaven's  nobility,  whom  worlds  obey, 
Clad  in  the  brightness  of  eternal  day, 
Enthroned  in  majesty,  as  "Priests  and  Kings," 
To  whom  the  universe  its  incense  brings! 
Angels,  its  ministers!     Heaven  its  throne! 
The  stores  of  infinitude  are  all  its  owrO. 

HAVING  given  a  general  view  of  the  powers, 
operations,  and  effects  of  Theology,  as  developed 
amongst  the  nations  of  antiquity,  the  mysteries 
of  the  Godhead,  the  law  of  nature,  and  the  origin 
and  destiny  of  the  universe,  the  subject  next  in 
order  is  the  KEY  of  knowledge,  power  and  gov- 
ernment, as  developed  in  the  heavens  and  on  the 
earth,  for  the  organization,  order,  peace,  happi- 
ness, education,  improvement  and  exaltation  of 
intelligences  in  the  image  of  God,  his  sons  and 
daughters. 

The  great  family  of  man,  comprising  the  in- 
habitants of  unnumbered  millions  of  worlds,  in 
every  variety  and  degree  of  progress,  consists  of 
five  principal  spheres  or  grand  divisions  in  the 
scale  of  progressive  being,  viz.: 

First.  The, Gods,  composed  of  personal  spirits, 
who  inhabit  tabernacles  of  immortal  flesh  and 
bones  in  their  most  refined  state,  and  who  are 
perfected  in  all  the  attributes  of  intelligence  and 
power. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  65 

Second.  The  Angels,  also  composed  of  spirits 
and  immortal  flesh  and  bones,  less  refined,  and 
endowed  with  vast  intelligence  and  power,  but 
not  a  fullness. 

Third.  Personal  spirits,  without  a  tabernacle 
of  flesh  and  bones.  These  are  they  who  have 
passed  the  veil  of  death,  and  are  awaiting  a  resur- 
rection. 

Fourth.  Personal  spirits,  with  mortal  taber- 
nacles, as  in  the  present  world. 

Fifth.  Personal  spirits,  who  have  not  yet  de- 
scended to  be  clothed  upon  with  mortality,  but 
who  are  candidates  for  the  same. 

There  is  also  a  sixth  division,  but  of  these  we 
need  not  speak,  as  they  are  not  included  in  the 
scale  of  progressive  being,  not  having  kept  their 
first  estate. 

The  spirits  of  all  men  in  their  primeval  states 
were  intelligent.  But  among  these  intelligences 
some  were  more  noble,  that  is  to  say,  more  intelli- 
gent than  others. 

And  God  said,  These  will  I  make  my  rulers* 
Upon  this  principle  was  manifested  the  election, 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  of  certain  in- 
dividuals to  certain  offices,  as  written  in  the 
Scriptures. 

In  other  words,  certain  individuals,  more  in- 
telligent than  the  others,  were  chosen  by  the 

*See  Book  of  Abraham,  translated  from  papyrus,  taken 
from  the  catacombs  of  Thebes,  in  Egypt,  contained  in  the 
Pearl  of  Great  Price. 


66  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Head,  to  teach,  instruct,  edify,  improve,  govern, 
and  minister  truth  and  salvation  to  others;  and  to 
hold  the  delegated  powers  or  keys  of  government 
in  the  several  spheres  of  progressive  being. 

These  were  not  only  chosen,  but  set  apart,  by 
a  holy  ordinance  in  the  eternal  worlds,  as  ambas- 
sadors, foreign  ministers,  priests,  kings,  apostles, 
etc.,  to  fill  the  various  stations  in  the  vast  empire 
of  the  Sovereign  of  all. 

Jesus  Christ,  being  the  first  Apostle  thus  com- 
missioned, and  the  President  of  all  the  powers 
thus  delegated,  is  Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of. 
kings,  in  the  heavens  and  on  the  earth.  Hence 
this  Priesthood  is  called  the  Preisthood  after  the 
order  of  the  Son  of  God.-  It  holds  the  keys  of  all 
the  true  principles  of  government  in  all  worlds, 
being  without  beginning  of  days  or  end  of  life.  It 
was  held  by  Adam,  Seth,  Enoch,  Noah,  Shem, 
Melchizedek  and  others.  Abraham  obtained  this 
Priesthood,  and  an  election  of  the  same  in  his  seed 
after  him  to  all  generations.  The  decree  went 
forth  in  an  everlasting  covenant,  that  in  Abraham 
and  his  seed  all  the  nations  and  kindreds  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed. 

Of  this  lineage  according  to  the  flesh  were  the 
Propehts,  John  the  Baptist,  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
Jewish  Apostles.  Since  the  covenant  and  election 
thus  manifested,  the  keys  of  revelation,  govern- 
ment and  miraculous  powers  on  earth  have  been 
held  exclusively  by  the  literal  descendants  of  this 
noble  and  royal  house. 

The  Gentiles  could  partake  of  a  portion  of  the 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  67 

same  blessings,  but  this  could  only  be'done  through 
their  ministry,  and  by  adoption  into  the  same 
family. 

This  election  or  covenant  with  the  house  of 
Israel  will  continue  forever.  In  the  great  restora- 
tion of  all  things,  this  lineage  will  hold  the  keys 
of  Priesthood,  salvation  and  government  for  all 
nations.  As  saith  the  Prophet  Isaiah:  "The  na- 
tion and  kingdom  that  will  not  serve  thee  shall  per- 
ish; yea,  those  nations  shall  be  utterly  wasted." 

And  again:  "Ye  shall  be  the  priests  of  the 
Lord,  men  shall  call  you  the  ministers  of  our  God: 
but  strangers  shall  build  your  walls,  and  the  sons 
of  the  alien  shall  be  your  ploughmen  and  your 
vine  dressers." 

This  Priesthood,  including  that  of  the  Aaronic, 
holds  the  keys  of  revelation  of  the  oracles  of  God 
to  man  upon  the  earth;  the  administration  of 
ordinances  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  for  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  to  heal  the  sick,  cast  out 
demons  or  work  miracles  in  the  name  of  the  Lord; 
in  fine,  to  bind  or  loose  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 
For  the  exercise  of  all  which  powers  the  student 
of  Theology  will  find  abundant  precedents  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures. 

Men  holding  the  keys  of  the  Priesthood  and 
Apostleship  after  the  order  of  the  Son  of  God,  are 
His  representatives,  or  ambassadors,  to  mankind. 
To  receive  them,  to  obey  their  instructions,  to 
feed,  clothe  or  aid  them,  is  counted  the  same,  in 
the  final  judgment,  as  if  all  had  been  done  to  the 
Son  of  God  in  person.  On  the  other  hand,  to  re- 


68  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

ject  them  o*r  their  testimony  or  message,  or  the 
word  of  God  through  them,  in  any  matter,  is 
counted  the  same  as  if  done  to  Jesus  Christ  in  His 
own  person.  Indeed  such  ambassadors  will  be  the 
final  judges  of  the  persons,  rulers,  cities  or  nations 
to  whom  they  are  sent. 

Although  the  instruments  chosen  to  hold  the 
keys  of  this  priesthood  should  be  the  literal 
lineage  of  Israel,  yet  that  lineage  are  not  all  thus 
commissioned  nor  indeed  are  any  of  them  priests 
merely  because  they  are  of  the  chosen  seed.  Such 
an  instrument  must  be  revealed,  and  his  ordina- 
tion, which  he  had  before  the  world  began,  be 
renewed  and  confirmed  upon  his  fleshly  taber- 
nacle, or  he  cannot  be  a  priest  on  earth. 

One  who  already  holds  the  authority  or  keys 
of  Priesthood,  can  reveal  by  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
and  ordain  and  anoint  others  to  similar  callings, 
and  through  these  ordinances  they  will  receive  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  a  qualification  for  their  holy  call- 
ing. By  this  means  Joshua  succeeded  Moses, 
Elisha  succeeded  Elijah,  etc.  And  by  this  means 
the  great  Apostle  of  the  Father  chose  and  or- 
dained the  Twelve  Apostles  of  the  Jews,  and  gave 
the  keys  or  presidency  of  the  Kingdom  to  Peter. 

There  have,  however,  been  times  when,  by  a 
general  martyrdom  or  apostasy,  the  keys  of  this 
power  have  been  taken  from  the  earth  (see  chap- 
ters II,  III,  IV).  In  such  case  there  would  be 
no  longer  visions,  revelations,  or  miraculous  gifts 
from  the  Lord  manifested  among  men,  because 
the  Priesthood  is  the  channel  and  the  ordinances 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  69 

are  the  means  through  which  such  blessings  are 
enjoyed  by  man.  In  the  absence  of  these  offices 
and  powers,  darkness,  ignorance,  superstition, 
priestcraft  and  kingcraft,  idolatry  and  every  spe- 
cies of  abuse  would  fill  the  earth  and  usurp  the 
place  of  the  true  government  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

The  most  remarkable  and  long-continued  in- 
stance of  this  kind  which  perhaps  ever  occurred  in 
our  world,  commenced  with  the  destruction  of  the 
Apostles  and  Saints  who  immediately  succeeded 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  continued  until  the 
present  century,  producing  in  its  consequences  all 
the  human  butcheries,  wars,  oppressions,  misrule, 
ignorance,  superstitions,  kingcraft,  priestcraft  and 
misery  which  have  visited  the  world  in  the  false 
name  of  Christianity. 

On  the  Western  Hemisphere  the  Apostleship, 
oracles,  miracles  and  gifts  of  the  Spirit  ceased 
from  among  the  people  in  the  fourth  century. 

The  precise  time  of  the  discontinuance  of  these 
powers  on  the  eastern  continents,  or  in  the  Roman 
world,  is  not  known.  Suffice  it  to  say,  the  last  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles  predicted,  in  his  vision  on 
the  Isle  of  Patmos,  the  reign  of  a  certain  power 
which  should  make  war  with  the  Saints,  overcome 
them,  be  drunken  with  their  blood  and  bear  rule 
over  all  nations.  "And  by  thy  sorceries,"  said  he, 
"were  all  nations  deceived."  If  these  predictions 
have  had  their  fulfillment,  then  it  is  the  height  of 
inconsistency  for  any  one  to  contend  that  Rome 
or  any  nation  has  perpetuated  the  Priesthood, 


70  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Apostleship,  or  Church.  This  would  be  the  same 
as  to  say  the  Saints  were  destroyed  and  yet  per- 
petuated; all  nations  were  deceived,  and  yet  had 
the  truth. 

Could  a  universal  or  catholic  power  at  once 
destroy  the  Saints  and  perpetuate  them?  Could 
the  same  power,  at  the  same  time,  be  the  conserv- 
ator and  promulgator  of  a  system  of  universal 
salvation  and  of  universal  deception? 

But  leaving  the  prediction  and  the  reasoning  on 
this  subject,  what  are  the  facts  which  present 
themselves  for  our  inspection,  clearly  visible  to 
all  men? 

Do  we  not  find  the  world  for  many  ages,  and 
up  to  the  present  time,  destitute  of  those  mani- 
festations, visions,  powers  and  keys  of  knowledge 
and  government  which  would  enlighten,  purify, 
and  exalt  the  race  and  establish  permanent  right- 
eousness and  peace?  In  short,  have  the  powers 
of  the  eternal  Priesthood,  as  described  and  exem- 
plified in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  in  this  work, 
been  manifested  for  the  government  of  the  Cath- 
olic or  Protestant  world,  or  any  nation  thereof, 
since  the  destruction  of  the  ancient  Saints  and 
Apostles? 

If  we  answer  this  last  question  in  the  negative, 
then  we  verify  the  truth  of  the  prediction  by  the 
last  of  the  Twelve;  if  in  the  affirmative,  we  deny 
both  the  truth  of  the  prediction  and  the  facts 
which  clearly  present  themselves  in  the  past  his- 
tory and  present  circumstances  of  the  world  called 
"Christian." 

When     there    is    no    longer    a    commissioned 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  71 

Priesthood  perpetuated  on  the  earth,  it  becomes 
necessary,  in  order  to  restore  the  government  of 
God,  for  the  man  or  men  last  holding  the  keys  of 
such  power  to  return  to  the  earth  as  ministering 
angels,  and  to  select,  by  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
and  ordain  certain  individuals  of  the  royal  lineage 
of  Israel  to  hold  the  keys  of  such  Priesthood,  and 
to  ordain  others,  and  thus  restore  and  reorganize 
the  government  of  God,  or  His  Kingdom  upon 
the  earth. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  Apostles  and  Saints 
who  succeeded  Jesus  Christ,  there  is  but  one  dis- 
pensation or  restoration  predicted  by  the  Prophets. 

That  dispensation  will  fulfill  the  times  of  the 
Gentiles,  complete  their  fullness,  restore  the  King- 
dom to  Israel,  gather  home  their  twelve  tribes, 
organize  them  into  a  theocratic  government,  that 
is,  a  government  founded  and  guided  by  prophets, 
priesthood,  visions  and  revelations.  It  will,  in 
fact,  not  only  restore  to  them  the  ministration  of 
angels,  but  receive  its  final  consummation  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  ancient  Saints,  and  their  return 
to  the  earth  accompanied  by  the  Son  of  God  in 
His  own  proper  person.  To  this  dispensation  all 
nations  must  submit. 

All  merely  human  religious  or  political  institu- 
tions, all  republics,  states,  kingdoms,  empires, 
must  be  dissolved,  the  dross  of  ignorance  and 
falsehood  be  separated,  and  the  golden  principles 
of  unalloyed  truth  be  preserved  and  blended  for- 
ever in  the  one  consolidated,  universal,  eternal 
government  of  the  Saints  of  the  Most  High,  and 
all  nations  shall  serve  and  obey  Him. 


72  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

REVIVAL    OR    RESTORATION    OF    THE    SCIENCE    OF 
THEOLOGY  IN  THE  PRESENT  AGE. 

A  modern  Prophet!     Yes,   a  mighty  Seer! 
From  Israel's  royal  line,  must  next  appear; 
Clad  in  the  spirit  of  Elijah's  power, 
To  prune  the  vineyard  in  th'  eleventh  hour; 
To  light  the  dawn  of  that  effulgent  day, 
When  King  Messiah  shall  His  sceptre  sway. 

THE  nineteenth  century  opened  upon  the  world 
with  far  more  favorable  auspices  than  any  other 
age  since  the  destruction  of  the  people  of  the 
Saints,  and  the  reign  of  universal  mystery.  That 
spirit  of  freedom  and  independence  of  thought,  of 
speech  and  of  action  which  a  few  centuries  before 
had  germinated  in  Europe,  and  which,  after  a 
stunted  growth  amid  the  thorns  and  thistles  of 
kingcraft,  the  tares  of  priestcraft  and  the  weeds 
of  superstition  in  the  old  world,  transplanted  itself 
and  obtained  a  more  vigorous  growth  in  the  new 
world,  had  now  grown  to  a  degree  of  maturity  and 
become  consolidated,  opening  resources  for  all  na- 
tions, under  the  inestimable  guarantee  of  consti- 
tutional liberty. 

To  this  standard  the  most  enterprising,  intelli- 
gent and  thinking  of  every  nation  in  Europe  had 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  73 

commenced  to  gather  like  a  flowing  stream.  Here, 
far  separated  from  the  practical  influence,  the  false 
glare,  the  empty  show,  or  even  the  senseless  name 
and  titles  of  a  self-styled  or  imaginary  nobility, 
their  minds  enlarged,  their  energies  had  full 
scope,  and  their  intellectual  faculties,  unfettered 
and  free,  and  surrounded  with  inexhaustible  stores 
of  unoccupied  elementary  riches,  soon  opened  and 
developed  new  channels  of  thought,  of  action,  of 
enterprise  and  improvement,  the  results  of  which 
have  revolutionized  the  world  in  regard  to  geo- 
graphical knowledge,  commerce,  intercommunica- 
tion, transportation,  travel,  transmission  of  news, 
and  mutual  acquaintance  and  interchange  of 
thought. 

The  triumphs  of  steam  over  earth  and  sea,  the 
extension  of  railroads,  and,  above  all,  the  lightning 
powers  of  telegraph,  are  already  gradually  but 
rapidly  developing,  concentrating  and  consolidat- 
ing the  energies  and  interests  of  all  nations,  pre- 
paratory to  the  universal  development  of  knowl- 
edge, neighborly  kindness  and  mutual  brother- 
hood. 

Physically  speaking,  there  seems  to  need  but 
the  consummation  of  two  great  enterprises  more 
in  order  to  complete  the  preparations  necessary 
for  the  fulfillment  of  Isaiah  and  other  Prophets 
in  regard  to  the  restoration  of  Israel  to  Palestine, 
from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  and  the  annual 
re-union  of  all  nations  to  the  new  standards,  holy 
shrines  and  temples  of  Zion  and  Jerusalem,  under 
the  auspices  of  that  great,  universal  and  perma- 


74  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

nent  theocracy  which  is  to  succeed  the  long  reign 
of  mystery. 

These  things  achieved,  even  the  most  incred- 
ulous in  regard  to  the  truth  of  Scripture  prophecy 
will  be  constrained  to  acknowledge  that,  physically 
and  politically  speaking,  there  is  nothing  impossi- 
ble or  even  improbable  in  the  belief  that  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel  will  be  concentrated  from  all  na- 
tions in  their  own  land,  that  Jerusalem  will  be- 
come the  capital  of  political  government,  the  seat 
of  knowledge,  and  the  shrine  of  worship  for  the 
yearly  resort  of  all  the  nations  and  countries  in- 
cluded in  the  world  known  to  the  Prophets  of  old, 
while  the  Western  Hemisphere,  separated,  as  it  is, 
by  two  great  oceans  from  the  Old  World,  will 
naturally  form  its  own  central  capital,  its  Zion,  or 
New  Jerusalem,  to  which  all  tribes  and  nations 
may  perform  their  annual  visits  for  instruction, 
devotion  and  mutual  interchange  of  thought,  of 
fellowship  and  affection. 

Can  the  student  of  prophecy  contemplate  all 
these  preparations,  clearly  predicted  thousands  of 
years  ago,  and  now  bursting  upon  the  world  with 
seemingly  preconcerted  connection  and  exactness, 
revolutionizing  all  things  in  a  single  age,  and  not 
be  struck  with  the  reflection  that  the  hand  of  God 
must  be  in  all  this,  and  that  moral  energy  and 
spiritual  light  must  be  forthcoming  from  the 
heavens  commensurate  with  the  physical  and  polit- 
ical preparations  for  a  new  era? 

The  same  Prophets  who  have  contemplated  and 
described  the  development  of  national  freedom, 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  75 

universal  intercourse,  mutual  peace,  knowledge, 
union  of  worship,  reunion  of  the  tribes  of  Israel; 
who  have  described  highways,  trains  of  cars  flying 
as  it  were  with  a  cloud,  ocean  steamers,  ships, 
litters  and  swift  beasts  as  the  instruments  of 
restoration,  have  also  predicted  that,  in  connection 
with  all  these  preparations,  a  new  dispensation 
should  be  manifested,  a  new  covenant  established, 
"a  standard"  for  the  nations,  "an  ensign"  for  the 
people.  In  short,  "swift  messengers,"  "teachers," 
Prophets  would  be  commissioned,  revelations  be 
manifested,  and  a  new  organization  be  developed, 
fitted  to  the  times  and  with  the  principles  and  laws 
adapted  to  the  reorganization,  order  and  govern- 
ment of  a  renovated  world. 

Where  and  when  should  we  look  for  the  "grain 
of  mustard  seed,"  the  germ,  the  nucleus  of  such 
organization?  Of  course,  in  a  land  of  free  institu- 
tions, where  such  organization  could  be  legally 
developed  and  claim  constitutional  protection  until 
sufficiently  matured  to  defend  itself  against  the 
convulsions,  the  death  struggles,  the  agonizing 
throes  preceding  the  dissolution  of  the  long  reign 
of  mystic  tyranny;  and  at  a  time  when  modern 
freedom  had  been  consolidated,  nationalized,  and 
its  standard  recognized  among  the  nations. 

Such  an  organization  should  also  be  looked  for, 
in  its  first  development,  as  contemporary  with  the 
first  dawn  or  development  of  the  physical  and 
political  means  provided  for  the  same  result. 

The  beginning  of  the  present  century  gave 
birth  to  those  chosen  instruments  who  were  des- 


76  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

tined  to  hold  the  keys  of  restoration  for  the  reno- 
vation of  the  world. 

The  United  States  of  America  was  the  favored 
nation  raised  up,  with  institutions  adapted  to  the 
protection  and  free  development  of  the  necessary 
truths  and  their  practical  results.  And  that  great 
Prophet,  Apostle  and  martyr, 

JOSEPH  SMITH, 

was  the  Elias,  the  restorer,  the  presiding  messen- 
ger, holding  the  keys  of  the  "dispensation  of  the 
fullness  of  times." 

Yes,  that  extraordinary  man,  whose  innocent 
blood  is  yet  dripping,  as  it  were,  from  the  hands 
of  assassins  and  their  accessories  in  the  United 
States,  was  the  chosen  vessel  honored  of  God,  and 
ordained  by  angels,  to  ordain  other  Apostles  and 
Elders,  to  restore  the  Church  and  Kingdom  of 
God,  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  be  a  mes- 
senger in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah,  to  pre- 
pare the  way  of  the  Lord.  "For,  behold,  He  will 
suddenly  come  to  His  temple!" 

Like  John,  who  filled  a  similar  mission  pre- 
paratory to  the  first  advent  of  the  Son  of  God,  he 
baptized  with  water  unto  repentance,  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins;  like  him,  he  vas  imp*-;soned;  and, 
like  him,  his  life  was  taken  from  the  earth;  and, 
finally,  like  all  other  true  messengers,  his  message 
is  being  demonstrated  by  its  progressive  fulfill- 
ment, the  powers,  gifts  and  signs  following  the 
administrations  of  his  message  in  all  the  world, 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  77 

and  every  minute  particular  of  his  predictions  ful- 
filling in  the  order  of  events  as  the  wheels  of  time 
bring  them  due. 

But  in  one  important  point  his  message  differs 
from  all  former  messages.  The  science  of  Theol- 
ogy revived  by  him  will  never  decline,  nor  its  keys 
be  taken  from  the  earth.  They  are  committed  to 
man  for  the  last  time.  Their  consummation  will 
restore  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  Judah,  overthrow 
all  corrupt  institutions,  usher  in  the  reign  of  uni- 
versal peace  and  knowledge,  introduce  to  earth 
her  lawful  and  eternal  King,  the  crucified  Naz- 
arene,  the  resurrected  Messiah,  banish  darkness 
and  death,  sorrow,  mourning  and  tears,  from  the 
face  of  our  globe,  and  crown  our  race  with  the 
laurels  of  victory  and  eternal  life. 

Ages  yet  unborn  will  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed.  A  thousand  generations  of  countless 
myriads  will  laud  his  name  and  recount  his  deeds, 
while  unnumbered  nations  bask  in  the  light  and 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  institution  founded  by  his 
instrumentality. 

His  kindred,  the  nation  that  gave  him  birth  and 
exulted  at  his  death,  nay,  his  very  murderers  and 
their  posterity,  will  yet  come  bending  unto  him 
and  seek  his  forgiveness  and  the  benefits  of  his 
Iab6rs. 

But,  oh!  the  pain,  the  dark  despair,  the  tor- 
ments of  a  guilty  conscience,  the  blackness  of 
darkness  in  the  lower  hell,  which  the  guilty 
wretches  will  experience  before  that  happy  day  of 
deliverance! 


78  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Oh!  the  countless  myriads  of  the  offspring  of 
innocent  and  honorable  men  who  will  walk  the 
earth,  tread  on  the  ashes  or  plow  and  reap  over 
the  bones  and  dust  of  those  miserable  murderers 
and  their  accomplices  who  have  consented  to  the 
shedding  of  innocent  blood,  ere  the  final  trump 
shall  sound,  which  calls  up  their  sleeping  dust 
from  its  long  slumbers  in  the  tomb,  and  their 
spirits  from  the  prison  of  the  damned! 

And  <even  when  this,  to  them  almost  intermin- 
able, period  has  rolled  away  and  they  rise  from 
the  dead,  instead  of  a  welcome  exaltation  to  the 
presence  and  society  of  the  sons  of  God,  an  eternal 
banishment  awaits  them.  They  never  can  come 
where  God  and  Christ  dwell,  but  will  be  servants 
in  the  dominions  of  the  Saints,  their  former  vic- 
tims. 

This  extraordinary  personage  was  born  in 
Sharon,  Windsor  County,  Vermont,  United  States, 
December  23,  1805. 

He  removed  with  his  father,  during  childhood, 
and  settled  near  Palmyra,  Wayne  County,  New 
York.  Amid  these  forest  wilds  he  was  reared  a 
farmer,  and  inured  to  all  the  hardships,  toils  and 
privations  of  a  newly  settled  country.  His  educa- 
tion was  therefore  very  limited.  When  about 
seventeen  years  of  age,  he  had  several  open  visions 
in  which  a  holy  angel  ministered  to  him,  admon- 
ished him  for  his  sins,  taught  him  repentance  and 
faith  in  the  crucified  and  risen  Messiah,  opened  to 
him  the  Scriptures  of  the  Prophets,  unfolding  the 
field  of  prophecy  pertaining  to  the  latter-day 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  79 

glory,  and  the  doctrines  of  Christ  and  His  ancient 
Apostles. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  September,  1827,  the 
angel  directed  him  to  a  hill  a  few  miles  distant, 
called  anciently  Cumorah.  Around  this  hill,  in  the 
fifth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  had  rallied  the 
last  remnant  of  a  once  powerful  and  highly  pol- 
ished nation,  called  the  Nephites. 

Here  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men, 
women  and  children  marshaled  themselves  for  a 
last  defense,  in  legions  of  ten  thousand  each,  un- 
der their  respective  commanders,  at  whose  head 
was  the  renowned  Mormon,  the  general  of  a  hun- 
dred battles.  And  here  they  received  the  enemy 
in  untold  numbers,  and  melted  away  before  them, 
till  none  remained,  except  a  few  that  fled  to  the 
southward,  and  a  few  that  fell  wounded  and  were 
left  by  the  enemy  among  the  unburied  dead. 

Among  these  latter  were  General  Mormon  and 
his  son,  and  second  in  command,  General  Moroni. 

These  were  the  last  Prophets  of  a  nation,  now 
no  more.  They  held  the  sacred  records,  compiled 
and  transmitted  from  their  fathers  from  the  re- 
motest antiquity.  They  held  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim,  and  the  compass  of  Lehi,  which  had  been 
prepared  by  Providence,  to  guide  a  colony  from 
Jerusalem  to  America. 

In  the  hill  Cumorah  they  deposited  all  these 
things.  Here  they  lay  concealed  for  fourteen 
hundred  years.  And  here  did  the  angel  Moroni 
direct  the  young  Joseph  to  behold  these  sacred 
things  in  their  sacred  deposit,  and  to  receive,  from 


80  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

these  long  silent  and  gloomy  archives,  an  abridged 
record  of  the  whole,  and  with  it  the  Urim  and 
Thummim. 

The  abridged  record  thus  obtained  was  en- 
graved in  reformed  Egyptian  characters,  on  gold 
plates,  by  the  hands  of  the  two  Prophets  and  gen- 
erals, Mormon  and  Moroni.  By  the  instructions 
of  the  angel,  and  the  use  of  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim, the  youthful  Joseph,  now  -a  Prophet  and 
Seer,  was  enabled  to  translate  the  abridgment,  or 
rather  the  unsealed  portion  which  was  destined 
for  the  present  age. 

This  done,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to 
three  other  persons,  called  Martin  Harris,  Oliver 
Cowdery  and  David  Whitmer;  showed  them  the 
golden  plates,  and  the  engravings  thereon,  bore 
testimony  of  their  correct  translation  by  the 
Prophet  Joseph,  and  commanded  them  to  bear  a 
faithful  testimony  of  the  same.  Two  of  these 
were  respectable  farmers,  and  the  other  was  a 
schoolmaster. 

Early  in  '1830  this  translation,  with  the  accom- 
panying testimony,  was  published  in  English,  in 
the  United  States,  under  the  title  of  the  BOOK  OF 
MORMON. 

It  is  now  (1853)  translated  and  published  in 
nearly  all  European  languages. 

This  book  more  deeply  interests  the  world,  and 
every  intelligent,  accountable  being  therein,  than 
any  other  book,  save  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  which 
is  now  extant.  Its  history  penetrates  the  other- 
wise dark"  oblivion  of  the  past,  as  it  regards 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  81 

America,  through  the  remote  ages  of  antiquity, 
follows  up  the  stream  of  the  generations  of  man, 
till,  arriving  at  the  great  fountain,  the  distributor 
of  nations,  tribes  and  tongues,  the  Tower  of  Babel, 
it  ceases,  or  is  lost  in  and  sweetly  blended  with 
that-  one  great  undivided  Adamic  river,  whose 
source  is  in  Paradise,  the  cradle  of  man,  whose 
springs  issue  from  beneath  the  throne  of  the  Eter- 
nal, and  whose  secret  fountains  comprise  the  in- 
finite expanse,  the  boundless  ocean  of  intellect, 
fact  and  historic  truth,  as  recorded  in  the  archives 
•of  eternity.  Its  prophetic  vision  opens  the  events 
of  unborn  time.  The  fate  of  nations,  the  restora- 
tion of  Judah  and  Israel,  the  downfall  of  corrupt 
churches  and  institutions,  the  end  of  superstition 
and  misrule,  the  universal  prevalence  of  peace, 
truth,  light  and  knowledge,  the  awful  wars  which 
precede  those  happy  times,  the  glorious  coming  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  king,  the  resurrection  of  the  Saints, 
to  reign  upon  the  earth,  the  great,  grand  rest  of  a 
thousand  years,  the  jubilee  of  universal  nature 
upon  our  planet,  are  all  predicted  in  that  book. 
The  time  and  means  of  their  fulfillment  are 
pointed  out  with  clearness,  showing  the  present 
age  more  pregnant  with  events  than  all  the  ages 
of  Adam's  race  which  have  gone  before  it.  Its 
doctrines  are  developed  in  such  plainness  and 
simplicity,  and  with  such  clearness  and  precision, 
that  no  man  can  mistake  them.  They  are  there 
as  they  flowed  from  the  mouth  of  a  risen  Re- 
deemer, in  the  liquid  eloquence  of  love,  mingled 
with  immortal  tears  of  joy  and  compassion,  and 


82  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

were  written  by  men  whose  tears  of  overwhelm- 
ing affection  and  gratitude  bathed  His  immortal 
feet. 

It  was  ascertained  by  revelation,  by  means  of 
the  Urim  and  Thummim,  that  the  youthful 
Prophet  Joseph  was  of  the  house  of  Israel,  of  the 
tribe  of  Joseph. 

He  continued  to  receive  visions,  revelations, 
and  the  ministry  of  angels,  by  whom  he  was  at 
length  ordained  to  the  Apostleship  or  High  Priest- 
hood after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  to  hold  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  dispensation  of 
the  fullness  of  times. 

Thus  qualified,  he  proceeded  on  the  sixth  of 
April,  A.  D.  1830,  to  organize  the  Church  of  the 
Saints,  which  then  consisted  of  six  members.  The 
gifts  of  healing,  of  prophecy,  of  visions  and  mira- 
cles began  to  be  manifested  among  the  believers, 
thus  confirming  his  testimony  with  signs  follow- 
ing. 

In  this  same  year  the  principles  restored  by 
him  were  proclaimed,  and  branches  of  the  Church 
were  organized  in  various  parts  of  his  own  state, 
in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  elsewhere,  and  the 
number  of  his  disciples  increased  from  six  mem- 
bers to  upwards  of  one  thousand. 

During  the  three  following  years  hundreds  of 
ministers,  ordained  by  him,  were  sent  out  in  all 
directions  through  the  country,  and  branches  of 
the  Church  were  organized  in  most  of  the  states 
of  the  American  Union. 

In  1835  he  ordained,  by  commandment  of  the 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  83 

Lord,  a  quorum  of  Twelve  Apostles,  and  several 
quorums  of  Seventy,  as  a  traveling  ministry. 

In  1836  a  temple  was  completed  and  dedicated, 
in  Kirtland,  Ohio,  in  which  these  quorums,  and 
the  Priesthood  in  general,  were  assembled  in  a 
school  of  the  Prophets,  and  were  instructed  and 
anointed  to  their  holy  calling.  In  this  same  year 
some  of  the  Apostles  visited  Upper  Canada,  and 
spread  the  fullness  of  the  Gospel  in  Toronto  and 
all  the  region  round,  gathering  several  branches 
of  the  Church. 

In  1837  a  mission  was  sent  to  England,  which 
was  attended  with  the  same  powers,  and  with  re- 
markable success. 

In  1838  the  state  of  Missouri  undertook  the  ex- 
termination of  the  Church  from  its  borders,  mur- 
dered many  men,  women  and  children,  and  finally 
succeeded  in  the  forcible  expulsion  of  about  ten 
thousand  people,  and  the  seizure  of  their  lands 
and  property. 

In  1840  several  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  visited 
England,  gathered  great  numbers  into  the  Church, 
and  published  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  several 
other  works,  among  which  was  a  periodical  called 
the  Millennial  Star,  which  now,  in  1853,  has  a  cir- 
culation of  nearly  eighteen  thousand  copies 
weekly. 

Between  the  years  1840  and  1844,  our  youthful 
Prophet  gathered  about  him  many  thousands  of 
his  disciples,  erected  the  great  city  of  Nauvoo,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  commenced  the  erec- 
tion of  one  of  the  most  splendid  temples  in  the 


84  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

world,  and  organized  a  legion  of  citizen  soldiers 
for  its  defense.  This  Legion  comprised  nearly  six 
thousand  men,  and  was  commanded  by  the  young 
Prophet  Joseph,  who  held  a  government  commis- 
sion as  lieutenant-general. 

From  this  centre  of  science  and  heavenly  light, 
there  emanated  rays,  by  the  aid  of  foreign  min- 
istry, that  penetrating  afar,  lighted  up  the  dawn 
of  the  effulgent  day  which  is  destined  to  break 
over  all  the  earth  and  shine  forever. 

Apostles,  High  Priests,  Elders,  Counselors  and 
ministers  of  every  degree,  here  thronged  to  our 
youthful  Prophet  and  hero,  and  were  taught  in 
this  great  school  of  Theology  and  spiritual  philos- 
ophy, while  a  hundred  thousand  disciples  in  the 
nation  and  beyond  the  seas  looked  to  this  centre 
for  light  and  instruction. 

Such  was  the  progress  of  the  science  of  Theol- 
ogy revived  in  the  present  age;  such  the  result  of 
fourteen  years  of  the  ministry  of  an  unlettered 
youth,  crying  in  the  wilderness  the  proclamation 
of  repentance,  baptizing  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  holding  the  keys  of  this  divine,  eternal  power. 

His  unparalleled  success  and  still  increasing  in- 
fluence now  alarmed  his  former  persecutors,  and 
raised  their  jealousy  and  envy  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  frenzy  and  madness. 

Several  counties  of  Illinois  combined  with  the 
former  enemies  who  had  robbed  and  destroyed 
the  Saints  of  Missouri,  and,  calling  public  meet- 
ings, passed  resolutions  to  destroy  the  city  of 
Nauvoo  and  to  force  the  Saints  once  more  to 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  85 

abandon  their  homes  and  farms  to  the  possession 
of  the  land  pirates.  They  also  entered  into  cove- 
nant to  take  the  life  of  the  young  Joseph. 

To  resist  this  overwhelming  storm  our  hero 
and  Prophet  marshaled  his  Legion  of  six  thousand 
men,  in  his  beloved  city  of  Nauvoo,  prepared  for 
the  most  vigorous  defense,  and  awaited  the  onset. 
The  cowardly  enemy  soon  discovered  the  impro- 
priety of  an  open  attack,  and  resolved  on  strata- 
gem. They  caused  a  magistrate  of  their  own 
number  to  issue  a  writ,  and  sent  a  constable  to 
bring  the  person  of  Joseph  into  the  midst  of  those 
who  had  sworn  to  kill  him.  To  yield  to  this 
mockery  would  be  to  lose  his  life.  To  resist  it 
would  be  construed  into  treason  and  would  bring 
on  him  the  whole  forces  of  the  state.  This 
stratagem  succeeded;  Nauvoo,  its  legion  and  its 
general  were  declared  in  rebellion.  His  Excel- 
lency, Thomas  Ford,  Governor  of  the  state  of 
Illinois,  mustered  an  army,  marched  to  the  scene 
of  conflict,  took  sides  with  the  enemy,  and  in  fact 
incorporated  their  entire  forces  with  his  own 
troops. 

With  this  formidable  force  he  marched  to  Car- 
thage, a  small  town  eighteen  miles  from  Nauvoo. 
He  then  sent  a  captain  named  Singleton  to  take 
command  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  and  demanded 
its  lieutenant-general  to  repair  to  Carthage,  and 
place  himself  in  the  hands  of  those  who  had  pub- 
licly combined  to  take  his  life.  Sooner  than  have 
submitted  to  these  insults  and  humiliating  de- 
mands, the  Legion  would  have  joyfully  marched 
to  Carthage,  and  cut  to  pieces  this  cowardly  band 


86  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

of  rebels  against  American  institutions  and  all  the 
rights  of  man. 

But  the  Saints  were  located  between  two  pow- 
erful states,  who  were  now  combined  against  the 
laws,  constitutions  and  liberties  of  their  country. 
To  destroy  one  army,  or  even  resist  its  most  ex- 
travagant demands,  would  be  to  draw  upon  them- 
selves and  families  the  overwhelming  forces  of  the 
ferocious,  ignorant,  and  worse  than  savage  beings 
who  had  long  thirsted  for  their  plunder  and  their 
blood. 

The  young  Prophet  had  no  confidence  in  the 
Governor's  pledge  to  protect  his  person.  He  felt 
the  hour  had  come,  when  his  own  blood  alone 
could  appease  the  enemy  and  preserve  the  lives  of 
his  flock.  He  restrained  the  ardor  of  the  Legion, 
called  upon  them,  by  the  love  they  had  ever  borne 
to  him  as  a  Prophet  and  Apostle,  and  conjured 
them,  by  the  respect  and  confidence  they  had 
shown  him  as  their  general,  to  submit  to  the  ex- 
travagant demands  of  His  Excellency,  and  leave 
the  event  with  God.  He  now  took  an  affectionate 
leave  of  his  beloved  Legion,  who  were  dissolved 
in  tears,  tore  himself  from  the  embrace  of  his  aged 
and  widowed  mother,  and  frantic  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  repaired  to  Carthage.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  his  brother  Hyrum  and  the  two  of  the 
Twelve  that  were  not  abroad  on  foreign  missions, 
who  would  not  forsake  him.  On  the  way  he  was 
cheerful,  but  solemn.  He  spoke  little,  but  ob- 
served to  those  about  him:  "I'm  going  like  a  lamb 
to  the  slaughter;  but  I  am  calm  as  a  summer's  morn- 
ing; I  have  a  conscience  void  of  offense  towards  God, 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  87 

and  towards  all  men;  I  shall  die  innocent,  and  it  shall 
yet  be  said  of  me,  He  was  murdered  in  cold  blood." 

Arriving  at  Carthage,  he  delivered  himself  to 
his  enemies,  answered  to  the  charge  of  the  original 
writ,  to  enforce  which  all  the  Governor's  forces 
had  been  mustered,  and  was  then  committed  to 
prison  to  answer  the  charge  of  treason. 

In  this  dungeon  he  was  still  accompanied  by 
the  two  Apostles  and  his  brother  Hyrum,  who 
were  determined  to  die  with  him. 

Here,  as  the  four  friends  sat  in  the  upper  room, 
singing  hymns,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  twenty- 
seventh  day  of  June,  1844,  the  prison  was  suddenly 
surrounded  with  demons  in  the  flesh,  armed  with 
muskets  and  bayonets,  and  their  faces  as  black  as 
Cain,  the  original  murderer._  These  commenced 
firing  through  the  doors  and  windows  of  the 
prison,  while  a  portion  assaulted  and  broke  open 
the  door.  Hyrum  suddenly  fell,  and  died  without 
a  groan,  being  pierced  with  four  balls.  Taylor 
fled,  wounded  and  bleeding,  to  the  window,  and 
was  about  to  throw  himself  out,  when  a  ball  aimed 
at  his  heart  hit  his  watch  in  his  vest  pocket,  and 
threw  him  back  into  the  room.  The  other  Apos- 
tle, Willard  Richards,  stood  and  parried  the  guns 
with  his  hand  staff,  receiving  slight  injury. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  scene,  the  Prophet's 
presence  of  mind  did  not  forsake  him.  He  saw 
his  brother  Hyrum  fall,  stiffen  and  die.  He  then 
exclaimed,  in  the  anguish  of  his  soul,  "O  my 
brother!"  and  sprang  for  the  window,  amid  show- 
ers of  ball  as  thick  as  hail.  He  instantly  threw 
himself  from  the  upper  story  into  the  midst  of  the 


88  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

bristling  bayonets  of  the  enemy,  and,  on  alighting, 
was  pierced  with  a  shower  of  balls  and  instantly 
died  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan. 

His  presence  of  mind  and  prompt  action  in 
thus  throwing  himself  among  the  enemy,  drew 
them  from  the  prison  in  time  to  save  the  lives  of 
the  two  Apostles,  which  was,  no  doubt,  the  object 
of  this  the  last  glorious  act  of  his  life. 

Thus  ended  the  mortal  career  of  a  youth  who 
had  revealed  the  ancient  history  of  a  continent, 
restored  to  man  the  keys  and  powers  of  the  divine 
science  of  Theology,  organized  the  Church  and 
Kingdom  of  God,  and  revealed  and  re-established 
those  principles  which  will  eventually  prevail  and 
govern  the  sons  of  earth  in  countless  ages  yet 
unborn.  "The  good  shepherd,"  said  Jesus,  "layeth 
down  his  life  for  the  sheep." 

When  the  news  of  this  horrid  tragedy  spread 
abroad,  the  fear  of  vengeance  from  the  Nauvoo 
Legion  seized  the  Governor,  his  troops,  and  the 
whole  gang  of  pirates;  all  fled,  and  even  the  in- 
habitants of  the  guilty  villages  in  the  vicinity 
vacated  their  habitations  and  fled  in  terror  and 
dismay. 

As  the  news  reached  Nauvoo,  a  thrill  of  horror 
and  of  anguish  unutterable  ran,  as  with  electricity, 
through  every  pulse.  The  Legion  sprang  to  arms, 
and  would  have  desolated  the  whole  rebel  coun- 
ties, now  left  unprotected,  had  not  their  judgments 
balanced  the  burning  attribute  of  justice  which 
swelled  their  bosoms. 

As  it  was,  they  smothered  their  resentment, 
and  prepared  for  the  burial  of  the  illustrious  dead. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  89 

The  bodies  of  the  two  martyrs  were  borne  to  the 
city,  being  met  by  the  entire  populace,  bowed  with 
sorrow,  bathed  in  tears,  and  their  bosoms  tin- 
heaved  with  a  sense  of  sorrow  and  outraged  hu- 
manity, such  as  perhaps  an  entire  populace  at  once 
never  had  felt  since  man  was  doomed  to  mourn. 

The  Twelve  who  were  abroad  soon  returned, 
soothed  and  comforted  the  Saints  and  exhorted 
them  to  union  and  perseverance.  The  work  on 
the  Temple  was  resumed,  and  finally  completed  at 
an  expense  of  many  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In 
this  holy  edifice,  after  its  dedication  to  the  Lord, 
a  number  of  the  authorities  received  those  holy 
washings,  anointings,  keys,  ordinances,  oracles  and 
instructions  which  were  yet  wanting  to  perfect 
them  in  the  fullness  of  the  Priesthood. 

In  the  autumn  of  1845  the  enemy  again  rallied, 
and  commenced  to  desolate  the  borders  of  the 
Nauvoo  settlements  by  fire  and  sword.  . 

Wearied  with  long  continued  vexation  and  per- 
secution, the  Council  of  the  Apostles  now  deter- 
mined to  seek  peace  for  the  Saints  amid  the  far-off 
and  almost  unexplored  deserts  and  mountains  of 
the  interior. 

In  February,  1846,  this  emigration  was  com- 
menced, headed  by  the  Apostles  and  their  families. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  July,  1847,  the  pio- 
neers of  this  vast  emigration,  headed  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  whole  Church,  Brigham  Young,  en- 
tered the  valley  of  Great  Salt  Lake. 

In  the  meantime,  the  beautiful  Nauvoo  and  its 
surrounding  farms  and  villas  fell  a  prey  to  the 
enemy,  after  a  vigorous  defense.  Its  Temple,  the 
pride  and  glory  of  Illinois,  was  laid  in  ashes.  Its 


90  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

last  remnant  plundered,  robbed  of  their  all,  sick, 
destitute,  wounded,  bleeding,  dying,  at  length  dis- 
appeared beyong  the  horizon  of  the  illimitable 
plains  of  the  west,  and  for  a  moment,  the  curtain 
of  oblivion  closed  over  this  strange  drama,  and 
the  Kingdom  of  God  seemed  lost  to  mortal  view. 

Again  it  rises,  and  what  do  we  behold! 

The  banner  of  freedom  unfurled  a  thousand 
miles  from  the  frontiers  of  the  persecuting  foe;  its 
waving  folds,  amid  the  snow-clad  peaks  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  inviting  to  liberty  and  light  the 
oppressed  of  every  clime,  and  a  free  and  sovereign 
state  rising  in  majesty  and  smiling  splendor,  amid 
the  fastnesses  of  nature's  eternal  ramparts,  while 
the  exhaustless  treasures  of  the  golden  mountains 
of  California,  revealed  by  the  providence-guiding 
keys  of  modern  Theology,  are  poured  like  a  flow- 
ing stream  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  to  aid 
in  the  gathering  and  subsistence  of  the  Saints. 

Can  the  student  of  Theology  contemplate  all 
these  grand  events  and  their  results,  all  verging  to 
one  focus,  all  combining  to  prepare  the,, way  for 
the  consummation  of  the  entire  volume  of  unful- 
filled prophecy,  and  still  be  so  much  at  a  loss  as 
to  query,  like  one  of  old:  .  "Art  thou  he  that 
should  come;  or,  look  we  for  another?"  If  so, 
we  can  only  recommend  one  so  slow  of  heart  to 
search  the  Scriptures  and  all  good  books  extant 
on  the  subject.  And,  while  he  searches,  let  him 
turn  from  his  sins,  and  live  in  newness  of  life,  and 
call  upon  God,  the  Father  of  all,  in  the  name  of 
Messiah,  that  his  understanding  may  be  enlight- 
ened, and  his  stubborn  heart  subdued  and  con- 
strained to  yield  to  the  force  of  Truth. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  91 


CHAPTER  X. 

KEYS    OF    INITIATION    IN    PRACTICAL    THEOLOGY. 
Is't  possible!     A  sinful  man  like  me, 
A   candidate   for  heaven's  mystery! 
May  I  approach  the  gate  and  enter  in, 
Be  washed  and  cleansed  from  all  my  former  sin, 
Renewed  in  spirit,  and  partake  the  power 
Of  blest  Theology  from  this  good  hour? 

THE  student  of  this  deeply  interesting  science 
who  has  traced  with  us  the  thrilling  incidents  of 
its  history  on  earth,  till  he  finds  it  restored  in  all 
its  beauties,  and  its  powers  taking  root  in  the 
earth,  to  bear  eternal  fruit,  will  doubtless  feel  a 
desire  to  be  instructed  in  the  first  principles,  the 
ordinances  or  means  by  which  he  may  personally 
partake  of  its  benefits  and  exercise  its  gifts. 

There  are  certain  qualifications  or  personal 
preparations  indispensably  necessary,  without 
which  no  person  can  be  a  proper  candidate  for 
blessings  so  divine. 

First.  He  must  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  and  in 
the  testimony  of  the  Apostle,  or  commissioned 
officer,  to  whom  he  looks  for  the  administration 
of  these  blessings. 

Second.  He  must  forsake  a  sinful  course  of 
life,  must  deny  himself  of  every  impure  or  unlaw- 
ful indulgence,  must  do  right  with  his  fellow 
creatures,  and  determine  to  keep  the  command- 
ments of  Jesus  Christ. 

With  these  qualifications  he  comes  to  the 
Apostle,  Elder  or  Priest  of  the  Church  of  the 


92  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Saints,  who,  after  a  covenant  on  the  part  of  the 
candidate  to  forsake  his  sins  and  keep  the  com- 
mandments of  God,  goes  down  into  the  water  with 
him,  and  there  buries  him,  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  for  remission  of  sins, 
and  then  raises  him  from  his  watery  grave. 

This  ordinance  is  to  represent  the  death,  burial 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  is  called 
Baptism. 

Having  passed  through  this  ordinance,  the 
hands  of  some  one  or  more  of  the  authorized 
Priesthood  are  next  laid  upon  the  head  of  the 
candidate,  in  the  same  sacred  names,  and  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  confirmed  upon  him.  This 
baptism  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit  is  called  a  new 
birth,  and  it  is  in  reality  a  repetition  of  the  natural 
birth  or  entrance  into  the  elements  of  a  new  ex- 
istence. 

To  realize  this,  the  student  must  be  indoc- 
trinated in  the  philosophy  of  this  natural  birth, 
which  involes  three  principles,  viz:  "The  spirit, 
the  water  and  the  blood." 

The  embryo  formation  of  the  human  body  is 
commenced  and  sustained  by  blood  and  spirit,  in 
the  womb  of  nature,  where,  until  the  period  of 
birth,  it  floats  in  the  element  of  water.  At  birth, 
then,  it  is  literally  born  of  water,  that  is,  it 
emerges  from  that  element  in  which  it  has  been 
so  long  immersed,  into  a  different  element  called 
the  atmosphere,  which  then  becomes  a  necessary 
element  of  existence. 

To  be  born  again,  then,  is  to  enter  into  the 
same  element,  suspend  the  breath  in  the  watery 
womb,  and  emerge  from  that  element  into  the 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  93 

atmosphere,  and  again  gasp  the  first  breath  in  the 
new  creation;  while  at  the  same  time  the  blood 
of  atonement  is  applied  to  the  individual  for  re- 
mission of  sins,  and  is  followed  by  the  outpouring 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise.  As  it  is  written, 
"There  are  three  that-  bear  record  on  the  earth,  the 
spirit,  the  water,  and  the  blood." 

The  things  of  this  visible  creation  are  the  pat- 
terns of  things  in  the  invisible  world,  and  are  so 
arranged  as  to  exactly  correspond,  the  one  an- 
swering to  the  other,  as  face  to  face  in  a  mirror. 

The  immersion  in  water,  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  for  remission  of  sins, 
and  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  follows 
according  to  promise,  by  the  laying  on  of  hands 
of  the  holy  Priesthood,  were  instituted  from  be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world,  as  a  pattern  of 
the  birth,  death,  resurrection  and  new  life  of  man. 

The  candidate  is  now  initiated  into  the  first 
principles  of  the  science  of  divine  Theology.  His 
mind  is  quickened,  his  intellectual  faculties  are 
aroused  to  intense  activity.  He  is,  as  it  were, 
illuminated.  He  learns  more  of  divine  truth  in  a 
few  days  than  he  could  have  learned  in  a  lifetime 
in  the  best  merely  human  institutions  in  the  world. 

His  affections  are  also  purified,  exalted  and  in- 
creased in  proportion.  He  loves  his  heavenly 
Father  and  Jesus  Christ  with  a  perfect  love.  He 
also  loves  the  members  of  the  Church,  or  the  body 
of  Christ,  as  he  loves  his  own  soul;  while  his 
bosom  swells  with  the  tenderest  sympathies  and 
emotions  of  good-will  and  benevolence  for  all 
mankind.  He  would  make  any  sacrifice  which 
might  be  expedient  to  do  good.  He  would  lay 


94  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

down  his  life  most  cheerfully,  without  one  mo- 
ment's hesitation  or  regret,  if  required  of  him  by 
the  cause  of  truth. 

He  also  feels  the  spirit  of  prayer  and  watch- 
fulness continually,  and  pours  out  his  soul  in  the 
same,  and  finds  he  is  answered  in  all  things  which 
are  expedient.  He  is  now  in  a  fit  capacity  to  ex- 
ercise some  one  or  more  of  the  spiritual  gifts. 

He  may  perhaps  speak  in  power,  in  the  word 
of  wisdom,  in  the  word  of  knowledge,  in  prophecy, 
or  in  other  tongues.  He  may  see  a  vision,  dream 
an  inspired  dream,  or  possess  the  gift  to  be  healed, 
or  to  heal  others  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ. 

To  impart  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  touch,  or  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  to  impart  the  element 
of  life,  from  one  animal  body  to  another,  by  an 
authorized  agent  who  acts  in  the  name  of  God, 
and  who  is  filled  therewith,  is  as  much  in  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  of  nature,  as  for  water  to  seek 
its  own  level,  air  its  equilibrium,  or  heat  and 
electricity  their  own  mediums  of  conveyance. 

This  law  of  spiritual  essence,  its  communica- 
tive properties,  and  the  channel  by  which  it  is 
imparted  from  one  person  to  another,  bear  some 
resemblance  or  analogy  to  the  laws  and  opera- 
tions of  electricity.  Like  electricity,  it  is  im- 
parted by  the  contact  of  two  bodies,  through  the 
channel  of  the  nerves. 

But  the  two  differ  very  widely.  The  one  is  a 
property  nearly  allied  to  the  grosser  elements  of 
matter,  not  extensively  endowed  with  the  at- 
tributes of  intelligence,  wisdom,  affection  or  moral 
discrimination.  It  can  therefore  be  imparted  from 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  95 

one  animal  body  to  another,  irrespective  of  the 
intellectual  or  moral  qualities  of  the  subject  or 
recipient.  The  other  is  endowed  with  the  attri- 
butes of  intelligence,  affection,  moral  discrimina- 
tion, love,  charity,  and  benevolence  pure  as  the 
emotions  which  swell  the  bosom,  thrill  the  nerves, 
or  vibrate  the  pulse  of  the  Father  of  all. 

An  agent  filled  with  this  heavenly  spirit  cannot 
impart  of  the  same  to  another,  unless  that  other 
is  justified,  washed,  cleansed  from  all  his  impur- 
ities of  heart,  affections,  habits  or  practices,  by 
the  blood  of  atonement,  which  is  generally  ap- 
plied in  connection  with  the  baptism  of  remis- 
sion. 

A  man  who  continues  in  his  sins,  and  who  has 
no  living  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  cannot  receive 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the  ministra- 
tion of  any  person,  however  holy  he  may  be.  The 
impure  spirit  will  repulse  the  pure  element,  upon 
the  natural  laws  of  sympathetic  aiflnity,  or  of  at- 
traction and  repulsion. 

An  intelligent  being,  in  the  image  of  God,  pos- 
sesses every  organ,  attribute,  sense,  sympathy, 
affection,  that  is  possessed  by  God  himself. 

But  these  are  possessed  by  nmn,  in  his  rudi- 
mental  state,  in  a  subordinate  sense  of  the  word. 
Or,  in  other  words,  these  attributes  are  in  embryo, 
and  are  to  be  gradually  developed.  They  re- 
semble a  bud,  a  germ,  which  gradually  develops 
into  bloom,  and  then,  by  progress,  produces  the 
mature  fruit  after  its  own  kind. 

The  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  adapts  itself  to  all 
these  organs  or  attributes.  It  quickens  all  the 
intellectual  faculties,  increases,  enlarges,  expands 


96  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

and  purifies  all  the  natural  passions  and  affec- 
tions, and  adapts  them,  by  the  gift  of  wisdom, 
to  their  lawful  use.  It  inspires,  develops,  culti- 
vates and  matures  all  the  fine  toned  sympathies, 
joys,  tastes,  kindred  feelings  and  affections  of  our 
nature.  It  inspires  virtue,  kindness,  goodness, 
tenderness,  gentleness  and  charity.  It  develops 
beauty  of  person,  form  and  features.  It  tends 
to  health,  vigor,  animation  and  social  feeling.  It 
invigorates  all  the  faculties  of  the  physical  and 
intellectual  man.  It  strengthens  and  gives  tone  to 
the  nerves.  In  short,  it  is,  as  it  were,  marrow  to 
the  bone,  joy  to  the  heart,  light  to  the  eyes,  music 
to  the  ears,  and  life  to  the  wholt:  thing. 

In  the  presence  of  such  persons  one  feels  to 
enjoy  the  light  of  their  countenances,  as  the 
genial  rays  of  a  sunbeam.  Their  very  atmosphere 
diffuses  a  thrill,  a  warm  glow  of  pure  gladness  and 
sympathy,  to  the  heart  and  nerves  of  others  who 
have  kindred  feelings,  or  sympathy  of  spirit.  No 
matter  if  the  parties  are  strangeis,  entirely  un- 
known to  each  other  in  person  or  character;  no 
matter  if  they  have  never  spoken  to  each  other, 
each  will  be  apt  to  remark  in  his  own  mind,  and 
perhaps  exclaim,  when  referrring  to  the  interview, 
"O  what  an  atmosphere  encircles  that  stranger! 
How  my  heart  thrilled  with  pure  and  holy  feelings 
in  his  presence!  What  confidence  and  sympathy 
he  inspired!  His  countenance  and  spirit  gave  me 
more  assurance  than  a  thousand  written  recom- 
mendations or  introductory  letters."  Such  is 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  such  are  its  opera- 
tions when  received  through  the  lawful  channel, 
the  divine,  eternal  Priesthood. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  97 


CHAPTER    XL 
PHILOSOPHY  OF  MIRACLES. 

Trembling  with  awe  and  fear,  the  mind  inquires, 
"What  master  spirit,  now,  the  bard  inspires? 
What  bold  philosophy  shall  dare  assign 
A  law  to  govern  miracles  divine, 
Tell  how  effects  transpire  without  a  cause, 
And  how  kind  nature  breaks  kind  nature's  laws?" 

AMONG  the  popular  errors  of  modern  times  an 
opinion  prevails  that  miracles  are  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  nature,  that  they  are  effects  without  a 
cause. 

If  such  is  the  fact,  then  there  never  has  been 
a  miracle,  and  there  never  will  be  one.  The  laws 
of  nature  are  the  laws  of  truth.  Truth  is  un- 
changeable, and  independent  in  its  own  sphere. 

That  which  at  first  sight  appears  to  be  contrary 
to  the  known  laws  of  nature,  will  always  be  found, 
on  investigation,  to  be  in  perfect  accordance  with 
those  laws.  For  instance,  had  a  sailor  of  the  last 
century  been  running  before  the  wind,  and  met  a 
vessel  running  at  a  good  rate  of  speed,  directly 
in  opposition  to  the  wind  and  current,  this  sight 
would  have  presented,  to  his  understanding,  a 
miracle  in  the  highest  possible  sense  of  the  term, 
that  is,  an  event  entirely  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
nature  as  known  to  him.  Or  if  a  train  of  cars, 
loaded  with  hundreds  of  passengers  or  scores  of 
tons  of  freight  had  been  seen  passing  over  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles 


98  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

per  hour,  and  propelled,  seemingly,  by  its  own 
inherent  powers  of  locomotion,  our  fathers  would 
have  beheld  a  miracle,  an  event  which  would  have 
appeared  to  them  to  break  those  very  laws  of 
nature  with  which  they  were  the  most  familiar. 

If  the  last  generation  had  witnessed  the  con- 
veyance of  news  from  London  to  Paris,  in  an 
instant,  while  they  knew  nothing  of  the  late 
invention  of  the  electric  telegraph,  they  would 
have  testified,  in  all  candor,  and  with  the  utmost 
assurance,  that  a  miracle  had  been  performed,  in 
open  violation  of  the  well  known  laws  of  nature 
and  contrary  to  all  human  knowledge  of  cause 
and  effect. 

But  once  familiar  with  the  arts  of  the  living 
age,  all  -those  miracles  cease  to  be  such,  and  the 
laws  of  nature,  and  of  cause  and  effect,  are  found 
to  be  still  moving,  unimpaired,  in  all  the  harmony 
of  primeval  existence  and  operation. 

The  same  views  will  apply  with  equal  force 
to  all  the  spiritual  phenomena  of  the  universe. 

The  terms  miracle  and  mystery  must  become 
obsolete,  and  finally  disappear  from  the  vocabu- 
lary of  intelligences,  as  they  advance  in  the  higher 
spheres  of  intellectual  consistency.  Even  now 
they  should  be  used  only  in  a  relative  or  limited 
sense,  as  applicable  to  those  things  which  are  not 
yet  within  reach  of  our  powers  or  means  of 
comprehension. 

We  will  here  remind  the  student  of  two  prin- 
ciples or  laws  of  existence,  developed  in  a  former 
chapter  of  this  work,  which  will  account  for  all 
the  miraculous  powers  of  the  universe,  all  the 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  99 

mighty  works  ever  manifested  by  God  or  His  ser- 
vants. 

First.  All  the  elements  of  the  material  uni- 
verse are  eternal. 

Second.  There  is  a  divine  substance  or  essence 
called  spirit,  widely  diffused  among  these  eternal 
elements.  This  spiritual  substance  is  the  most  re- 
fined, subtle  and  powerful  element  in  the  uni- 
verse. It  is  the  light,  life,  power  and  principle 
of  all  things.  .  This  divine  element,  or  spirit,  is 
the  immediate,  active  or  controlling  agent  in  all 
holy  miraculous  powers. 

Angels,  and  holy  men,  perform  all  their  mir- 
acles simply,  to  use  a  modern  magnetic  term,  by 
being  in  "communication"  with  this  divine  sub- 
stance. Two  beings,  or  two  millions — any  num- 
ber, thus  placed  in  "communication,"  possess  one 
mind.  The  mind  of  the  one  is  the  mind  of  the 
other,  the  will  of  the  one  is  the  will  of  the  other, 
the  word  of  the  one  is  the  word  of  the  other.  And 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  being  in  communication 
with  them  all,  goes  forth  to  control  the  elements, 
and  to  execute  their  mandates  legally  issued,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  mind  and  wisdom  of  the  Great 
Eloheim. 

God  the  Father  is  the  head.  The  mandates  of 
Jesus  Christ  must  be  in  the  name  of  the  Father. 

The  mandates  of  angels,  or  of  holy  men,  in 
order  to  be  legal,  or  of  due  force  and  power,  must 
be  issued  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  of  the 
three  who  compose  the  Head  Council,  and  must 
be  in  accordance  with  their  united  mind  and  will. 
The  agency  being  invisible  and  the  effect  visible, 


100  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

the  act  performed  appears  to  those  wno  are  un- 
acquainted with  spiritual  agency,  as  a  miracle, 
or  an  effect  without  a  cause. 

When  Jesus  Christ  was  clothed  upon  with  a 
mortal  tabernacle  He  had  not  the  fullness  of 
this  divine  power  at  the  first,  but  grew  and  in- 
creased in  the  same  till,  being  raised  from  the 
dead,  He  received  a  fullness,  and,  therefore,  had 
all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 

His  Apostles  received  of  this  Spirit,  but  not  a 
fullness,  while  they  were  mortal;  therefore,  they 
could  know  and  perform  some  things,  but  not  all. 

The  members  of  the  Church  also  partook  of 
this  Spirit,  through  the  ministry  of  the  Apostles, 
by  which  miraculous  gifts  were  imparted  unto 
them,  some  to  one  and  some  to  another;  some  to 
speak  in  tongues,  some  to  interpret  or  translate 
from  one  language  into  another;  some  to  proph- 
esy, see  visions,  or  converse  with  angels;  others 
to  control,  or  cast  out  devils,  or  heal  the  sick; 
and  others,  again,  to  teach  and  edify  the  Church, 
or  the  world,  by  the  word  of  wisdom  and  by  the 
word  of  knowledge. 

All  these  gifts  and  miracles  were  the  workings 
of  that  one  and  the  self-same  Spirit  given  to  the 
members  of  the  Church  of  the  Saints,  while  the 
world  did  not  partake  sufficiently  thereof  to  pos- 
sess these  gifts.  The  reason  of  this  is  that  they 
did  not  repent  and  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
be  baptized  in  His  name  and  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
the  Priesthood,  these  duties  and  ordinances  being 
the  legal  or  appointed  channel  by  which  that  gift 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  101 

was  imparted.  The  reason  why  these  gifts  of  the 
Spirit  have  not  been  enjoyed  in  all  ages  of  the 
so-called  "Christian  church"  is  because  it  is  not 
the  true  Church;  nor  is  the  true  ministry  or 
Apostleship  to  be  found  among  the  church  or 
churches  where  these  gifts  are  denied.  Every 
minister  and  member  of  such  institutions  have 
need  to  repent,  and  be  baptized  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  for  a  remission  of  sins,  and  to  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  the  laying  on 
of  hands  of  those  who  have  authority,  in  order  to 
enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

These  ordinances,  ministered  by  a  legal  Priest- 
hood, being  divinely  appointed,  are  the  only  legiti- 
mate means  by  which  man  may  receive  and  exer- 
cise these  divine  powers;  or,  in  other  words,  they 
are  the  means  ordained  of  God,  to  place  man  in 
communication  with  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  and  with  angels,  and  the  spirits  of  just 
men  in  the  world  of  spirits,  and  with  the  mem- 
bers of  the  true  Church  on  the  earth. 

To  heal  a  person  by  the  touch,  or  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
or  to  impart  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  is  as  much  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
nature,  as  for  water  to  seek  its  own  level,  an 
apple  to  fall  to  the  ground  when  loosened  from 
the  tree  where  it  grew,  or,  quick-silver  or  the 
magnet  to  attract  its  own  affinities. 

A  person  commissioned  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
filled  with  this  spiritual  substance,  can  impart 
of  the  same  to  another,  provided  there  is  a  prepar- 
ation of  heart  and  faith  on  the  part  of  the  receiver. 


102  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

Or  if,  as  in  cases  of  healing,  casting  out  devils, 
etc.,  it  happens  that  the  receiver  has  no  com- 
mand of  his  own  mind,  as  in  cases  of  little  chil- 
dren, persons  swooned,  fainted,  deranged  or  dead, 
then  the  faith  of  the  administrator  alone,  or  in 
connection  with  that  of  other  friends  and  agents, 
in  his  behalf,  is  sufficient  in  many  cases  to  per- 
form the  work. 

However,  the  touch,  or  laying  on  of  hands, 
is  not  the  only  means  of  communicating  the  gift 
of  healing.  A  word  spoken,  a  mandate  issued,  or 
even  a  handkerchief,  apron,  or  other  garment, 
worn  or  touched  by  a  person  full  of  this  Spirit, 
and  conveyed  to  another,  has,  according  to  sacred 
history,  and  also  the  experience  of  the  present 
age,  proved  sufficient  to  produce  the  desired  effect 
between  minds  of  strong  and  mutual  faith.  So 
well  acquainted  was  the  Prophet  Elisha  with  this 
principle,  that  he  sent  his  servant  to  lay  his  staff 
upon  a  dead  child,  in  order  to  raise  it  from  the 
dead;  but  in  this  instance,  the  undertaking  failed. 
The  Prophet  could  only  resuscitate  the  child  by 
placing  face  to  face,  eye  to  eye,  mouth  to  mouth, 
hand  to  hand,  etc.,  so  as  to  give  the  greatest  pos- 
sible effect  to  the  imparting  of  the  spirit  of  life. 
For  the  holy  and  divine  spiritual  element 
to  control  all  other  elements,  is  just  as  natur- 
al as  for  the  greater  to  control  the  less,  or 
the  strong  the  weak.  It  is  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciple that  a  higher  intelligence  is  able  to  compre- 
hend, circumscribe,  and  instruct  that  which  is 
less. 

Hence,    when    the    worlds    were    framed,    God 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  103 

spake,  and  this  divine  spirit  went  forth  and  exe- 
cuted the  mandate,  by  controlling  the  elements  in 
accordance  with  the  will,  pattern,  or  designed 
form  in  the  mind  of  Him  that  spake.  Wisdom 
pondered  the  pattern  of  all  created  things,  weighed 
their  properties,  attributes  and  uses  in  the  balance 
of  mature  intellect.  Every  minute  portion  and 
member  of  the  several  departments  of  life  and 
being,  every  adaptation  to  their  natural  use,  was 
clearly  conceived,  formed  in  the  mind,  and  ma- 
tured, ere  the  mandate  was  issued.  And  the  whole 
was  executed  in  exact  accordance  with  the  pat- 
tern matured  in  the  divine  Mind. 

By  this  divine  Spirit  all  things  were  formed. 
By  this  divine  substance  all  things  live,  move, 
and  have  a  being.  By  this  agency  Moses  con- 
trolled the  sea,  Joshua  the  light  of  the  sun,  Daniel 
the  mouths  of  the  lions,  and  his  brethren  the 
flames.  By  this  the  heavens  were  opened  and 
were  shut,  the  rain  or  the  dearth  prevailed,  armies 
were  subdued,  the  sick  healed  or  the  dead  raised, 
and  all  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  nature, 
it  being  perfectly  natural  for  the  subordinate  ele- 
ments to  obey  the  supreme,  all-controlling,  all- 
pervading  element  tinder  the  directing  power  of 
Deity. 

The  modern  world,  called  "Christian,"  claims 
to  have  perpetuated  the  system,  called  "Christi- 
anity/' while  at  the  same  time  it  declares  that  the 
miraculous  gifts  of  the  Spirit  have  ceased. 

With  as  much  propriety  it  might  be  contended 
that  the  magnet  had  been  perpetuated,  but  had 
lost  its  magnetic  properties;  that  water  was  per- 


1Q4  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

petnated  with  all  its  virtues,  but  had  lost  its 
power  to  quench  thirst,  or  seek  its  own  level; 
that  fire  was  still  fire,  but  had  lost  its  heat. 

How,  we  inquire,  can  Christianity  have  been 
perpetrated  while  its  virtues,  its  legitimate  powers, 
its  distinguishing  features,  its  very  life  and  essence 
have  ceased  from  among  men?  Or,  of  what  use  is 
it  if  it  does  exist?  Is  a  compass  of  use  when  its 
needle  has  lost  its  magnetic  attraction?  Is  water 
of  use  when  it  no  longer  seeks  its  level  or 
quenches  thirst?  Is  fire  of  use  when  it  loses  its 
heat?  Is  a  sun  dial  of  use  in  a  dark  and  cloudy 
day?  Or  a  watch  without  a  mainspring?  Or  are 
the  mere  forms  'and  ceremonies  of  any  system 
of  use  when  the  divine  or  legitimate  powers,  for 
which  such  forms  were  instituted,  are  withdrawn? 

O  man!  be  no  longer  deceived  by  solemn 
mockeries  of  things  sacred,  or  by  great  and  holy 
names  applied  to  corrupt  and  degenerate  sys- 
tems. 

When  the  -miracles  and  gifts  of  the  divine 
Spirit  ceased  from  among  men,  Christianity 
ceased,  the  Christian  ministry  ceased,  the  Church 
of  Christ  ceased. 

That  ministry  which  sets  aside  modern  in- 
spiration, revelation,  prophecy,  angels,  visions, 
healings,  etc.,  is  not  ordained  of  God,  but  is  anti- 
Christian  in  spirit.  In  short  it  is  that  spirit  of 
priestcraft  and  kingcraft  by  which  the  world,  for 
many  ages,  has  been  ruled  as  with  a  rod  of  iror 

The  sooner  the  present  generation  lose  rever 
ence  and  respect  for  modern  "Christianity,"  with 
all  its  powerless  forms  and  solemn  mockeries. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  105 

the  sooner  they  will  be  prepared  to  receive  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  The  sooner  the  treasuries  of 
nations  and  the  purses  of  individuals  are  relieved 
from  the  support  of  priestcraft  and  superstitions, 
so  much  sooner  will  they  be  able  and  willing  to 
devote  their  means  and  influence  to  print  and 
publish  the  glad  tidings  of  the  lullness  of  the 
Gospel,  restored  in  this  age,  to  assist  in  the 
gathering  of  the  house  of  Israel,  and  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  cities  and  temples  of  Zion  and  Jeru- 
salem. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
ANGELS  AND  SPIRITS.      . 

Boast  not  your  lightning  wires  to  bear  the  news, 
Such  tardy  means  the  Saints  would  never  choose; 
Too  slow  your  fluid,  and  too  short  your  wires 
For  heavenly  converse,  such  as  love  inspires. 
If  man  would  fain  commune  with  worlds  above, 
Angels  transport  the  news  on  wings  of  love. 

"ARE  THEY  NOT  ALL  MINISTERING  SPIRITS,  SENT 
FORTH  TO  MINISTER  FOR  THEM  WHO  SHALL  BE  HEIRS 

OF  SALVATION?" — Heb.  i:  14. 

ANGELS  are  of  the  same  race  as  men.  They 
are,  in  fact,  men  who  have  passed  from  the  rudi- 
mental  state  to  the  higher  spheres  of  progressive 
being.  Some  have  died  and  risen  again  to  life, 
and  are  consequently  possessed  of  a  divine,  hu- 
man body  of  flesh  and  bones,  immortal  and  eter- 
nal. They  eat,  drink,  sing,  worship  and  con- 
verse. ,  Some  of  them  hold  the  keys  of  Apostle- 


106  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

ship  and  Priesthood,  by  which  they  teach,  instruct, 
bless,  and  perform  miracles  and  many  mighty 
works.  Translated  men,  like  Enoch,  Elijah,  John 
the  Apostle,  and  three  of  the  Apostles  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  are  in  these  respects  like 
angels. 

Angels  are  ministers,  both  to  men  upon  the 
earth  and  to  the  world  of  spirits.  They  pass  from 
one  world  to  another  with  more  ease  and  in  less 
time  than  we  pass  from  one  city  to  another.  They 
have  not  a  single  attribute  which  man  has  not. 
But  their  attributes  are  more  matured,  or  more 
developed,  than  the  attributes  of  men  in  this  pres- 
ent sphere  of  existence. 

Whenever  the  keys  of  Priesthood,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  keys  of  the  science  of  Theology,  are 
enjoyed  by  man  on  the  earth,  those  thus  privi- 
leged are  entitled  to  the  ministering  of  angels, 
whose  business  with  men  on  the  earth  is  to  re- 
store the  keys  of  the  Apostleship  when  lost;  to 
ordain  men  to  the  Apostleship  when  there  has 
been  no  Apostolic  succession;  to  commit  the  keys 
of  a  new  dispensation;  to  reveal  the  mysteries 
of  history,  the  facts  of  present  or  past  times,  and 
to  unfold  the  events  of  a  future  time.  They 
are,  sometimes,  commissioned  also  to  execute 
judgments  upon  individuals,  cities  or  nations. 
They  can  be  present  in  their  gloiy,  or  they  can 
come  in  the  form  and  appearance  of  other  men.. 
They  can  also  be  present  without  being  visible 
to  mortals. 

When  they  come  as  other  men,  they  will  per- 
haps eat  and  drink,  and  wash  their  feet;  and 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  107 

lodge  with  their  friends.  Hence  it  is  written:  "Be 
not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers;  for  thereby  some 
have  entertained  angels  unawares" 

Their  business  is,  also,  to  comfort  and  in- 
struct-individual  members  of  the  Church  of  the 
Saints,  to  heal  them  by  the  laying  on  of  hands 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  tell  them  what 
means  to  use  in  order  to  get  well,  to  teach  them 
good  things,  to  warn  them  of  approaching  danger, 
or  to  deliver  them  from  prison  or  from  death. 

These  blessings  have  always  been  enjoyed  by 
the  people  or  Church  of  the  Saints,  whenever  such 
Church  has  existed  on  our  planet.  They  are  not 
peculiar  to  one  dispensation  more  than  another. 

They  were  busy  in  the  Patriarchal  dispensa- 
tion, in  the  Mosaic  and  in  the  Gospel  dispensa- 
tions. They  delivered  Lot  and  destroyed  Sodom. 

They  were  busy  with  Moses  and  the  Proph- 
ets. They  foretold  to  Zacharias  the  birth  of 
John.  They  predicted  to  Mary  her  conception, 
and  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  informed 
Joseph  her  husband,  of  her  situation.  They 
announced  the  birth  of  Jesus  to  the  shepherds  of 
Judea,  and  sang  an  anthem  of  peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  man,  to  hail  Him  welcome. 
They  attended  on  His  footsteps  in  all  His  sojourn 
on  the  earth.  An  angel  was  the  instrument  to 
open  the  gloomy  prison  of  the  sepulchre,  and 
to  call  forth  the  sleeping  body  of  the  Messiah, 
the  first  to  exclaim,  "He  is  not  here,  but  is  risen." 
Two  angels  in  white  raiment  were  the  first  to  an- 
nounce His  second  advent  while  He  ascended  up 
in  the  presence  of  His  disciples.  Thus,  being 


108  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

delivered  from  the  personal  attendance  on  their 
Master  on  the  earth,  they  turned  their  attention  to 
the  Apostles,  opened  the  way  for  their  ministry 
among  Jew  and  Gentile,  delivering  them  from 
prison  and  from  danger,  and  revealing  the  mys- 
teries which  God  saw  fit  to  make  known  to  the 
Saints  of  that  age.  And  when  all  the  other  Apos- 
tles had  fallen  asleep,  and  the  Apostle  John  had 
been  banished  to  dig  in  the  mines  of  the  lone  isle 
of  Patmos,  they  still  were  faithful  to  their  charge. 
They  followed  him  there,  and  there  unfolded 
to  him  the  events  of  future  ages  and  genera- 
tions.. 

The  darkness  of  the  middle  ages,  the  corrup- 
tions of  Anti-Christ,  under  the  name  of  Christi- 
anity, the  rivers  of  blood,  and  the  oceans  of  tears, 
which  would  flow  during  eighteen  centuries  of 
error,  the  mighty  angel  who  should  again  com- 
mit the  Gospel  to  the  earth,  for  every  nation, 
kindred,  tongue  and  people,  the  judgments  of  God, 
in  the  downfall  of  error  and  mystery,  the  restitu- 
tion or  restoration  of  the  Church  of  the  Saints, 
their  final  triumph  and  dominion  over  the  earth, 
the  descent  of  Jesus  Christ  to  reign  over  all  king- 
doms, the  resurrection  of  the  Saints,  their  reign 
over  the  earth,  the  end  of  death,  and  sorrow, 
and  tears,  and  weeping,  were  all,  all  foretold  by 
the  angel  to  the  last  of  the  Twelve. 

Again,  in  the  present  age,  have  angels  restored 
the  Gospel.  Again  have  they  committed  the 
keys  of  Apostleship.  Again  have  they  opened 
some  of  the  events  of  the  past,  present  and  fu- 
ture. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  109 

Again  have  they  attended  upon  the  footsteps 
of  Apostles,  Prophets,  and  holy  martyrs,  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave.  Again  have  they  aided 
in  the  ministry  and  assisted  to  deliver  from 
prisons,  and  from  persecutions  and  death,  the 
Saints  of  the  Most  High.  And  again  are  they 
about  to  execute  vengeance  on  great  and  notable 
cities  and  nations  of  the  earth. 

O  what  an  unspeakable  blessing  is  the  min- 
istry of  angels  to  mortal  man!  What  a  pleasing 
thought,  that  many  who  minister  to  us,  and  watch 
over  us,  are  our  near  kindred,  our  fathers  who 
have  died  and  risen  again  in  former  ages,  and 
who  watch  over  their  descendants  with  all  the 
parental  care  and  solicitude  which  characterize 
affectionate  fathers  and  mothers  on  the  earth. 

Thrice  happy  are  they  who  have  lawful  claim 
on  their  guardianship,  and  whose  conduct  does 
not  grieve  them,  and  constrain  them  to  depart 
from  their  precious  charge. 

Persons  who  have  departed  this  life,  and  have 
not  yet  been  raised  from  the  dead  are  spirits. 

These  are  of  two  kinds,  viz.:  Good  and  evil. 

These  two  kinds  also  include  many  grades  of 
good  and  evil. 

The  good  spirits,  in  the  superlative  sense  of 
the  word,  are  they  who,  in  this  life,  partook  of 
the  Holy  Priesthood  and  of  the  fullness  of  the 
Gospel. 

This  class  of  spirits  minister  to  the  heirs  of 
salvation,  both  in  this  world  and  in  the  world  of 
spirits.  They  can  appear  unto  men,  when  permit- 
ted, but  not  having  a  fleshly  tabernacle,  they  can- 


110  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

not  hide  their  glory.  Hence,  an  unembodied 
spirit,  if  it  be  a  holy  personage,  will  be  sur- 
rounded with  a  halo  of  resplendent  glory,  or 
brightness,  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun. 

Whereas,  spirits  not  worthy  to  be  glorified  will 
appear  without  this  brilliant  halo,  and  although 
they  often  attempt  to  pass  as  angels  of  light,  there 
is  more  or  less  of  darkness  about  them.  So  it  is 
with  Satan  and  his  hosts  who  have  not  been 
embodied. 

Many  spirits  of  the  departed,  who  are  unnappy, 
linger  in  lonely  wretchedness  about  the  earth,  and 
in  the  air,  and  especially  about  their  ancient  home- 
steads, and  the  places  rendered  dear  to  them 
by  the  memory  of  former  scenes.  The  more 
wicked  of  these  are  the  kind  spoken  of  in  Scrip- 
ture, as  "foul  spirits,"  "unclean  spirits,"  spirits 
who  afflict  persons  in  the  flesh,  and  engender 
various  diseases  in  the  human  system.  They 
will  sometimes  enter  human  bodies,  and  will  dis- 
tract them,  throw  them  into  fits,  cast  them  into 
the  water,  into  the  fire,  etc.  They  will  trouble 
them  with  dreams,  nightmare,  hysterics,  fever, 
etc.  They  will  also  deform  them  in  body  and 
in  features,  by  convulsions,  cramps,  contortions, 
etc.,  and  will  sometimes  compel  them  to  utter 
blasphemies,  horrible  curses,  and  even  words  of 
other  languages.  If  permitted,  they  will  often 
cause  death.  Some  of  these  spirits- are  adulterous, 
and  suggest  to  the  mind  all  manner  of  lascivious- 
ness,  all  kinds  of  evil  thoughts  and  temptations. 

A  person  on  looking  another  in  the  eye,  who 
is  possessed  oi  an  evil  spirit,  may  feel  a  shock, 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  Ill 

a  nervous  feeling,  which  will,  as  it  were,  make  his 
hair  stand  on  end,  in  short,  a  shock  resembling 
that  produced  in  a  nervous  system  by  the  sight  of 
a  serpent. 

Some  of  these  foul  spirits,  when  possessing  a 
person,  will  cause  a  disagreeable  smell  about  the 
person  thus  possessed,  which  will  be  plainly  mani- 
fest to  the  senses  of  those  about  him,  even  tnougn 
the  person  thus  afflicted  should  be  washed  and 
change  his  clothes  every  few  minutes. 

There  are,  in  fact,  most  awful  instances  of  the 
spirit  of  lust,  and  of  bawdy  and  abominable  words 
and  actions,  inspired  and  uttered  by  persons 
possessed  of  such  spirits,  even  though  the  per- 
sons were  virtuous  and  modest  so  long  as  they 
possessed  their  own  agency. 

Some  of  these  spirits  cause  deafness,  others 
dumbness,  etc. 

We  can  suggest  no  remedy  for  these  multiplied 
evils,  to  which  poor  human  nature  is  subject, 
except  a  good  life,  while  we  are  in  possession  of 
our  .faculties,  prayers  and  fastings  of  good  and 
holy  men,  and  the  ministry  of  those  who  have 
power  given  them  to  rebuke  evil  spirits  and  cast 
out  devils,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 

Among  the  diversified  spirits  abroad  in  the 
world,  there  are  many  religious  spirits  which  are 
not  of  God,  but  which  deceive  those  who  have 
not  the  keys  of  Apostleship  and  Priesthood,  or,  in 
other  words,  the  keys  of  the  science  of  Theology 
to  guide  them.  Some  of  these  spirits  are  mani- 
fested in  the  camp-meetings  of  certain  sects,  and 
in  nearly  all  the  excitements  called  "revivals." 


112  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

All  the  strange  ecstasies,  swoonings,  screamings, 
shoutings,  dancings,  jumpings,  and  a  thousand 
other  ridiculous  and  unseemly  manifestations, 
which  neither  edify  nor  instruct,  are  the  fruits  of 
these  deceptive  spirits. 

We  must,  however,  pity  rather  than  ridicule 
or  despise  the  subjects  or  advocates  of  these 
deceptions.  Many  of  them  are  honest,  but  they 
have  no  Apostles  nor  other  officers  nor  gifts  to 
detect  evil,  or  to  keep  them  from  being  led  by 
every  delusive  spirit. 

Real  visions,  or  inspirations,  which  would  edify 
and  instruct,  they  are  taught  to  deny.  Should 
Peter  or  Paul,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  come 
among  them,  they  would  denounce  him  as  an  im- 
poster,  with  the  assertion  that  Apostles  and  an- 
gels were  no  longer  needed. 

There  is  strll  another  class  of  unholy  spirits 
at  work  in  the  world,  spirits  diverse  from  all 
these,  far  more  intelligent,  and,  if  possible,  still 
more  dangerous.  These  are  the  spirit  of  divina- 
tion, vision,  foretelling,  familiar  spirits,  "animal 
magnetism,"  or  "mesmerism,"  etc.,  which  reveal 
some  important  truths  mixed  with  the  greatest 
errors,  and  also  display  much  intelligence,  but 
have  not  the  keys  of  the  science  of  Theology, 
the  holy  Priesthood. 

These  spirits  generally  deny  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  and  the  great  truths  of  the  atonement, 
and  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  From  this 
source  are  all  the  revelations  which  deny  the 
ordinances  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  keys  and  gifts 
of  the  holy  Apostleship. 


KEY  TO  THEOLOGY.  113 

Last  of  all,  these  are  they  who  climb  up  in 
some  other  way,  besides  the  door,  into  the  sheep- 
fold;  and  who  prophesy  or  work  in  their  own 
name,  and  not  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ. 

No  man  can  do  a  miracle  in  the  name  and  by 
the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ,  except  he  be  author- 
ized by  Him. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
DREAMS. 

Mysterious  power,  whence  hope  ethereal  springs! 
Sweet  heavenly  relic  of  eternal  things! 
Inspiring  oft  deep  thougnts  of  things  divine; 
The  past,   the  present,   and  the  future  thine. 
Thy   reminiscences  transport  the  soul 
To   memory's   Paradise — its   future   goal. 

"FOR  GOD  SPEAKETH  ONCE,  YEA  TWICE,  YET  MAN 
PERCEIVETH  IT  NOT.  IN  A  DREAM,  IN  A  VISION  OF  THE 
NIGHT,  WHEN  DEEP  SLEEP  FALLETH  UPON  MEN,  IN 
SLU'MBERINGS  UPON  THE  BED  J  THEN  H£  OPENETH  THE 
EARS  OF  MEN,  AND  SEALETH  THEIR  INSTRUCTION." Job, 

xxxm:  14,  15,  1 6. 

IN  all  dispensations  God  has  revealed  many 
important  instructions  and  warnings  to  men  by 
means  of  dreams. 

When  the  outward  organs  of  thought  and  per- 
ception are  released  from  their  activity,  the 
nerves  unstrung,  and  the  whole  of  mortal  hu- 
manity lies  hushed  in  quiet  slumbers,  in  order  to 
renew  its  strength  and  vigor,  it  is  then  that  the 
spiritual  organs  are  at  liberty,  in  a  certain  degree,, 
to  assume  their  wonted  functions,  to  recall  some 
faint  outlines,  some  confused  and  half-defined 


114  KEY  TO  THEOLOGY. 

recollections  of  that  heavenly  world,  and  those 
endearing  scenes  of  their  former  estate,  from 
which  they  have  descended  in  order  to  obtain 
and  mature  a  tabernacle  of  flesh.  Their  kindred 
spirits,  their  guardian  angels  then  hover  about 
them  with  the  fondest  affection,  the  most  anxious 
solicitude.  Spirit  communes  with  spirit,  thought 
meets  thought,  soul  blends  with  soul,  in  all  the 
raptures  of  mutual,  pure  and  eternal  love. 

In  this  situation  the  spiritual  organs  are  sus- 
ceptible of  converse  with  Deity,  or  of  communion 
with  angels  and  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect. 

In  this  situation  we  frequently  hold  communi- 
cation with  our  departed  father,  mother,  brother, 
sister,  son  or  daughter,  or  with  the  former  hus- 
band or  wife  of  our  bosom,  whose  affection  for  us, 
being  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  eternal  ele- 
ments, or  issuing  from  under  the  sanctuary  of 
love's  eternal  fountain,  can  never  be  lessened  or 
diminished  by  death,  distance  ot  space,  or  length 
of  years. 

We  .may,  perhaps,  have  a  friend  of  the  other 
sex,  whose  pulse  beats  in  unison  with  our  own, 
whose  every  thought  was  big  with  the  aspirations, 
the  hopes  of  a  bright  future  in  union  with  our 
own,  whose  happiness  in  time  or  in  eternity 
would  never  be  fully  consummated  without  that 
union.  Such  a  one,  snatched  from  time  in  the 
very  bloom  of  youth,  lives  in  the  other  sphere, 
with  the  same  bright  hope,  watching  our  every 
footstep,  in  our  meanderings  through  the  rugged 
path  of  life,  with  longing  desires  for  our  eternal 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  115 

happiness,  and  eager  for  our  safe  arrival  in  the 
same  sphere. 

With  what  tenderness  of  love,  with  what  solici- 
tude of  affection  will  they  watch  over  our  slum- 
bers, hang  about  our  pillow,  and  seek,  to  com- 
municate with  our  spirits,  to  warn  us  of  dangers 
or  temptation,  to  comfort  and  soothe  our  sorrow, 
or  to  ward  off  the  ills  which  might  befall  us,  or 
perchance  to  give  us  some  kind  token  of  remem- 
brance or  undying  love! 

It  is  the  pure  in  heart,  the  lovers  of  truth  and 
virtue,  that  will  appreciate  these  remarks,  for  they 
know,  by  at  least  a  small  degree  of  experience, 
that  these  things  are  so. 

Those  who  are  habitually  given  to  vice,  im- 
morality and  abomination;  those  who  walk  in  the 
daily  indulgence  of  unlawful  lust;  those  who 
neither  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  nor  seek  to  pray  to 
Him  and  keep  His  commandments;  those  who 
do  not  cultivate  the  pure,  refined  and  holy  joys  of 
innocent  and  heavenly  affection,  but  who  would 
sacrifice  every  finer  feeling  at  the  shrine  of  lawless 
pleasure  and  brutal  desires;  those  persons  will  not 
understand  and  appreciate  these  views,  because 
their  good  angels,  their  kindred  spirits,  have  long 
since  departed,  and  ceased  to  attend  them,  being 
grieved  and  disgusted  with  their  conduct. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  has  also  been  grieved, 
and  has  left  them  to  themselves,  to  struggle  alone 
amid  the  dangers  and  sorrows  of  life;  or  to  be  the 
associates  of  demons  and  impure  spirits.  Such 
persons  dream  of  adultery,  gluttony,  debauch- 
ery and  crimes  of  every  kind.  Such  persons  have 


116  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

the  foreshadowings  of  a  doleful  death,  ana  01 
darkness,  and  the  bufferings  of  fiends  and  ma- 
licious spirits. 

But  blessed  are  they  who  forfeit  not  their 
claims  to  the  watchful  care  and  protection  of, 
and  communion  with,  the  heavenly  powers  and 
pure  and  lovely  spirits. 

We  can  only  advise  the  other  classes  of  man- 
kind, and  entreat  them,  by  the  joys  of  love,  by  all 
the  desires  of  life,  by  all  the  dread  of  death,  dark- 
ness and  a  dreary  hereafter;  yea,  by  the  blood  of 
Him  who  died,  by  the  victory  of  Him  who  rose  in 
triumph  from  the  grave,  by  their  regard  for  those 
kindred  spirits  which  would  glady  love  them  in 
worlds  without  end,  to  turn  from  their  sinful 
course  of  life,  to  obey  the  ordinances  and  com- 
mandments of  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
may  return  to  them,  and  their  good  angels  and 
spirits  again  return  to  their  sacred  charge. 

Oh,  what  a  comfort  it  is,  in  this  dreary  world, 
to  be  loved  and  cared  for  by  all-powerful,  warm- 
hearted, and  lovely  friends! 

A  Dream! 

What  have  not  dreams  accomplished? 

Dreams  and  their  interpretation  brought  the 
beloved  son  of  Jacob  from  his  dungeon,  made  him 
prime  minister  of  Egypt,  and  the  savior  of  a  na- 
tion and  of  his  father's  house. 

Dreams,  and  the  interpretation  of  dreams, 
raised  a  Daniel  from  slavery  or  degrading  cap- 
tivity in  Babylon,  to  wear  a  royal  chain  of  gold, 
and  to  teach  royalty  how  to  rule,  whilst  he  pre- 
sided over  the  governors  and  presidents  of  more 
than  a  hundred  provinces. 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  117 

Dreams,  and  the  interpretation  of  dreams,  have 
opened  the  future,  pointed  out  the  course  of  em- 
pire through  all  the  troublous  times  of  successive 
ages,  till  Saints  alone  shall  rule,  and  immortality 
alone  endure. 

O,  what  a  doleful  situation  was  Saul,  the  king  of 
Israel,  placed  in,  when  the  army  of  the  Philistines 
stood  in  battle  array  against  him,  and  the  Lord 
answered  him  not,  either  by  dream,  by  Prophet, 
by  vision,  or  by  Urim  and  Thummim!  He  sought 
the  unlawful  gift  of  familiar  spirits.  He  there 
learned  his  doom,  and  rushed  to  battle  with  the 
desperation  of  hopeless  despair.  He  and  his  sons, 
and  the  hosts  of  Israel,  fell  in  battle  on  that  awful 
day,  while  David,  to  whom  these  gifts  had  been 
transferred  by  the  ordination  and  holy  anointing 
of  Samuel,  arose  by  their  use  to  the  throne  of 
Israel. 

A  dream  announced  by  Joseph  that  his  virgin 
wife  should  have  a  son.  A  dream  forewarned  him 
to  flee  into  Egypt  with  the  young  child  and  his 
mother.  A  dream  announced  to  him  in  Egypt  the 
death  of  Herod,  and  warned  him  to  return  to  his 
native  land. 

A  dream  warned  the  wise  men  from  the  east 
to  return  home  another  way,  and  not  return  to 
Herod  to  betray  the  young  child. 

Dreams  and  visions  warned  Paul,  and  the 
Apostles,  and  the  Saints  of  his  day,  of  various 
dangers,  shipwrecks,  persecutions  and  deaths,  and 
pointed  out  the  means  of  escape. 

Dreams  and  visions  attended  and  guided  them, 
more  or  less,  in  their  whole  ministry  and  sojourn 
on  the  earth. 


118  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   WORLD   OF   SPIRITS. 

Ye  worlds  of  light  and  life,  beyond  our  sphere, 

Mysterious  country!   let  your  light  appear. 

Ye  angels,  lift  the  vail,  the  truth  unfold, 

And  give  our  Seers  a  glimpse  of  that  bright  world. 

Tell  where  ye  live,   and  what  is  your  employ, 

Your  present  blessing,  and  your  future  joy. 

Say,  have  you  learned  the  name,  and  tuned  the  lyre, 

And  hymned  the  praise  of  Him,  the  great  Messiah? 

Have  love's  emotions  kindled  in  your  breast, 

And  hope  enraptured  seized  the  promised  rest? 

Or   wait   ye   still   the   resurrection   day, 

That   higher   promise   of   Millennial   sway 

When  Saint-6  and  angels  come  to  earth  again, 

And  in  the  flesh  with  King  Messiah  reign? 

The  spirits  answered  as  they  soared  away, 

"We're  happy  now,  but  wait  a  greater  day, 

When  sin,  and  death,  and  hell  shall  conquered  be, 

And   earth,  with  heaven,   enjoy  the  victory." 

THE  spirit  of  man  consists  of  an  organization 
of  the  elements  of  spiritual  matter,  in  the  likeness 
and  after  the  pattern  of  the  fleshly  tabernacle.  It 
possesses,  in  fact,  all  the  organs  and  parts  exactly 
corresponding  to  the  outward  tabernacle. 

The  entrance  of  this  spirit  into  its  embryo 
tabernacle  of  flesh,  is  called  quickening.  The  in- 
fallible evidence  of  its  presence  is  voluntary  mo- 
tion, which  implies  a  degree  of  independent  agen- 
cy, or  inherent  will,  which  individual  identity 
alone  possesses. 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  119 

When  this  spirit  departs,  the  outward  taber- 
nacle is  said  to  be  dead,  that  is,  the  individual  who 
quickened  and  imparted  voluntary  motion  to  the 
said  tabernacle  is  no  longer  there.  This  indi- 
vidual, on  departing  from  its  earthly  house,  re- 
passes  the  dark  vale  of  forgetfulness,  and  awakes 
in  the  spirit  world. 

The  spirit  world  is  not  the  heaven  where  Jesus 
Christ,  His  Father,  and  other  beings  dwell,  who 
have,  by  resurrection  or  translation,  ascended  to 
eternal  mansions,  and  been  crowned  and  seated  on 
thrones  of  power,  but  it  is  an  intermediate  state, 
a  place  of  preparation,  improvement,  instruction, 
or  education,  where  spirits  are  chastened  and  im- 
proved, and  where,  if  found  worthy,  they  may  be 
taught  a  knowledge  of  the  Gospel.  In  short,  it  is 
a  place  where  the  Gospel  is  preached,  and  where 
faith,  repentance,  hope  and  charity  may  be  exer- 
cised, a  place  of  waiting  for  the  resurrection  or 
redemption  of  the  body,  while,  to  those  who  de- 
serve it,  it  is  a  place  of  punishment,  a  purgatory 
or  hell,  where  spirits  are  buffeted  till  the  day  of 
redemption. 

As  to  its  location,  it  is  here  on  the  very  planet 
where  we  were  born;  or,  in  other  words,  the  earth 
and  other  planets  of  a  like  sphere,  have  their  in- 
ward or  spiritual  spheres,  as  well  as  their  out- 
ward, or  temporal.  The  one  is  peopled  by  tem- 
poral tabernacles,  and  the  other  by  spirits.  A  vail 
is  drawn  between  the  one  sphere  and  the  other, 
whereby  all  the  objects  in  the  spiritual  sphere 
are  rendered  invisible  to  those  in  the  temporal. 

To  discern  beings  or  things  in  the  spirit  world, 


120  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

a  person  in  the  flesh  must  be  quickened  by  spir- 
itual element,  the  vail  must  be  withdrawn,  or  the 
organs  of  sight,  or  of  hearing,  must  be  trans- 
formed, so  as  to  be  adapted  to  the  spiritual  sphere. 
This  state  is  called  vision,  trance,  second  sight, 
clairvoyance,  etc. 

The  elements  and  beings  in  the  spirit  world 
are  as  real  and  tangible  to  spiritual  organs  as 
things  and  beings  of  the  temporal  world  are  to 
beings  of  a  temporal  state. 

In  this  spirit  world  there  are  all  the  varieties 
and  grades  of  intellectual  being  which  exist  in  the 
present  world.  For  instance,  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  thief  on  the  cross  both  went  to  the  same 
place,  and  found  themselves  associated  in  the 
spirit  world. 

But  the  one  was  there  in  all  the  intelligence, 
happiness,  benevolence  and  charity  which  char- 
acterized a  teacher,  a  messenger  anointed  to  teach 
glad  tidings  to  the  meek,  to  bind  up  the  broken- 
hearted, to  comfort  those  who  mourned,  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captive  and  open  the  prison  to 
those  who  were  bound;  or,  in  other  words,  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  spirits  in  prison,  that  they 
might  be  judged  according  to  men  in  the  flesh;  while 
the  other  was  there  as  a  thief,  who  had  expired  on 
the  cross  for  crime,  and  who  was  guilty,  ignorant, 
uncultivated  and  unprepared  for  resurrection,  hav- 
ing need  of  remission  of  sins  and  to  be  instructed 
in  the  science  of  salvation. 

The  former  bade  farewell  to  the  world  of 
spirits  on  the  third  day,  and  returned  to  His  taber- 
nacle of  flesh  in  which  He  ascended  to  thrones, 
principalities  and  powers,  while  the  latter  was,  no 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  121 

doubt,  improving  in  the  spirit  world,  and  waiting, 
believing,  hoping  for  the  redemption  of  the  body. 

In  the  world  of  spirits  there  are  Apostles, 
Prophets,  Elders  and  members  of  the  Church  of 
the  Saints,  holding  keys  of  Priesthood,  and  power 
to  teach,  comfort,  instruct,  and  proclaim  the  Gos- 
pel to  their  fellow  spirits,  after  the  pattern  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  same  world  there  are  also  the  spirits  of 
Catholics  and  Protestants  of  every  sect,  who  have 
all  need  to  be  taught  and  to  come  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  unchangeable  Gospel  in  its  full- 
ness and  simplicity,  that  they  may  be  judged  the 
same  as  if  they  had  been  privileged  with  the  same 
in  the  flesh. 

There  is  also  the  Jew,  the  Mahometan,  the  in- 
fidel, who  did  not  believe  in  Christ  while  in  the 
flesh.  All  these  must  be  taught,  must  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  crucified  and  risen  Redeemer, 
and  hear  the  glad  tidings  of  the  Gospel. 

There  are  also  all  the  varieties  of  the  heathen 
spirits;  the  noble  and  refined  philosopher,  poet, 
patriot  or  statesmen  of  Rome  or  Greece,  the  en- 
lightened Socrates  and  Plato,  and  their  like,  to- 
gether with  every  grade  of  spirits,  down  to  the 
most  uncultivated  of  the  savage  world. 

All  these  must  be  taught,  enlightened,  and  must 
bow  the  knee  to  the  eternal  King,  for  the  decree 
hath  gone  forth  that  unto  Him  every  knee  shall 
bow  and  every  tongue  confess. 

O,  what  a  field  of  labor,  of  benevolence,  of  mis- 
sionary enterprise  now  opens  to  the  Apostles  and 
Elders  of  the  Church  of  the  Saints!  As  this  field 
Opens  they  will  begin  to  realize  more  fully  the 


122  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

extent  of  their  divine  mission,  and  the  meaning  of 
the  great  command  to  "preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature" 

In  this  vast  field  of  labor  the  Priesthood  are, 
in  a  great  measure,  occupied  during  their  sojourn 
in  the  world  of  spirits,  .while  awaiting  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  and  at  the  same  time  they 
themselves  are  edified,  improved  and  greatly  ad- 
vanced and  matured  in  the  science  of  divine 
Theology. 

In  the  use  of  the  keys  of  this  science,  by  them 
administered,  and  in  connection  with  the  minis- 
tration of  certain  ordinances,  by  the  Priesthood,  in 
this  mortal  life,  for  and  in  behalf  of  those  who  are 
dead,  the  doors  of  the  prisons  of  the  spirit  world 
are  opened  and  their  gloomy  dungeons  made 
radiant  with  light.  Hope  then  springs  afresh. 
Joy  and  gladness  swell  the  bosom  accustomed  to 
anguish,  and  smiles  assume  the  place  of  tears, 
while  songs  of  triumph  and  the  voice  of  melody 
and  thanksgiving  occupy  the  hearts  and  flow  from 
the  lips  of  those  who  have  long  dwelt  in  dark- 
ness, and  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death. 

The  times  of  sojourn  of  a  spirit  in  the  world  of 
spirits,  and  also  its  privileges,  and  degrees  of  en- 
joyment or  suffering  while  there,  depend  much  on 
its  preparations  while  in  the  flesh. 

For  instance,  the  people  swept  off  by  the  flood 
of  Noah  were  imprisoned  in  the  world  of  spirits, 
in  a  kind  of  hell,  without  justification,  without 
Priesthood  or  Gospel,  without  a  true  knowledge 
of  God,  or  a  hope  of  resurrection,  during  those 
long  ages  which  intervened  between  the  flood  and 
the  death  of  Christ.  It  was  only  by  the  personal 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 


123 


ministry  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  during  His 
sojourn  in  the  spirit  world,  that  they  were  at 
length  privileged  to  hear  the  Gospel,  and  to  act 
upon  their  own  agency,  the  same  as  men  in  the 
flesh;  whereas,  if  they  had  repented  at  the  preach- 
ing of  Noah,  they  might  have  been  justified  and 
filled  with  the  hope  and  knowledge  of  the  resur- 
rection while  in  the  flesh. 

When  Jesus  Christ  had  returned  from  His  mis- 
sion in  the  spirit  world,  had  triumphed  over  the 
grave,  and  re-entered  His  fleshly  tabernacle,  then 
the  Saints  who  had  obeyed  the  Gospel. while  in 
the  flesh,  and  had  slept  in  death,  or  finished  their 
sojourn  in  the  spirit  world,  were  called  forth  to 
re-enter  their  bodies,  and  to  ascend  with  Him  to 
mansions  and  thrones  of  eternal  power,  while  the 
residue  of  the  spirits  remained  in  the  world  of 
spirits  to  await  another  call. 

Those  who  obeyed  the  Gospel  on  the  earth, 
after  that  resurrection,  will  also  be  called  from 
their  sojourn  in  the  spirit  world,  and  reunited 
with  their  tabernacles  of  flesh,  at  the  sounding  of 
the  next  trump,  and  will  reign  on  the  earth  in  the 
flesh  one  thousand  years,  while  those  who  rejected 
the  Gospel  will  remain  in  the  spirit  world,  without 
a  resurrection,  till  after  the  thousand  years. 

Again,  those  who  obey  the  Gospel  in  the  pres- 
ent age  will  rise  from  the  spirit  world,  and  from 
the  grave,  and  reign  on  the  earth  during  the  great 
thousand  years;  while  those  who  reject  it  will 
remain  in  condemnation  in  the  spirit  world,  with- 
out a  resurrection,  till  the  last  trump  shall  sound, 
and  death  and  hell  deliver  up  their  d~ead. 


124  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RESURRECTION,  ITS  TIMES  AND  DEGREES— FIRST, 
SECOND  AND  THIRD  HEAVENS,  OR  THE  TELES- 
TIAL,  TERRESTRIAL  AND  CELESTIAL  KINGDOMS. 

The  grave  and  death  and  hell  no  more  retain 
Their  lawful  captives.     Earth  yields  up  its  slain. 
The  raging  ocean,   from  its  lowly  bed, 
At   Michael's  call,   delivers  up   its  dead. 
Then  come  the  judgment,  and  the  final  doom 
Of  man,   his  destiny  beyond   the  tomb. 

THERE  are  three  resurrections  revealed  to  man 
on  the  earth;  one  of  these  is  past,  and  the  other 
two  are  future. 

The  first  of  these  took  place  in  connection  with 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  included 
the  Saints  and  Prophets  of  both  hemispheres, 
from  Adam  down;  or,  in  other  words,  those  who 
died  in  Christ  before  His  resurrection. 

The  next  will  take  place  in  a  few  years  from 
the  present  time,  and  will  be  simultaneous  with 
the  coming  of  Christ,  in  power  and  great  glory, 
with  all  His  Saints  and  angels.  This  resurrection 
will  include  the  Former  and  Latter-day  Saints,  all 
those  who  have  received  the  Gospel  since  the 
former  resurrection,  and  is  included  in  that  which 
is  called  "the  first  resurrection." 

The  last  resurrection  will  take  place  more  than 
a  thousand  years  afterwards,  and  will  embrace  all 
the  human  family  not  included  in  the  former  res- 
urrections or  translations. 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  125 

After  man  is  raised  from  the  dead,  he  will  be 
judged  according  to  his  works,  and  will  receive 
the  reward  and  be  consigned  to  the  sphere  ex- 
actly corresponding  to  his  former  deeds,  and  the 
preparations  or  qualifications  which  he  possesses. 

In  the  resurrection  which  now  approaches,  and 
in  connection  with  the  glorious  coming  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  earth  will  undergo  a  change  in  its 
physical  features,  climate,  soil,  productions,  and  in 
its  political,  moral  and  spiritual  government. 

Its  mountains  will  be  levelled,  its  valleys  ex- 
alted, its  swamps  and  sickly  places  will  be  drained 
and  become  healthy,  while  its  burning  deserts  and 
its  frigid  polar  regions  will  be  redeemed  and  be- 
come temperate  and  fruitful. 

Kingcraft  and  priestcraft,  tyranny,  oppression 
and  idolatry  will  be  at  an  end,  darkness  and 
ignorance  will  pass  away,  war  will  cease,  and  the 
rule  of  sin  and  sorrow  and  death  will  give  place 
to  the  reign  of  peace  and  truth  and  righteousness. 

For  this  reason,  and  to  fulfill  certain  promises 
made  to  the  fathers,  the  Former  and  Latter-day 
Saints  who  are  resurrected,  and  all  those  trans- 
lated, will  receive  an  inheritance  on  the  earth, 
and  will  build  upon  and  improve  the  same  for  a 
thousand  years. 

The  heathen  nations,  also,  will  then  be  re- 
deemed, and  will  be  exalted  to  the  privilege  of 
serving  the  Saints  of  the  Most  High.  They  will 
be  the  plowmen,  the  vine-dressers,  the  gardeners, 
builders,  etc.  But  the  Saints  will  be  the  owners  of 
the  soil,  the  proprietors  of  all  real  estate  and 
other  precious  things,  and  the  kings,  governors 
and  judges  of  the  earth. 


126  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

As  the  children  of  man  multiply  in  those  peace- 
ful times,  a  careful  and  wise  system  of  agriculture 
will  be  rapidly  developed  and  extended  over  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth,  its  entire  surface  will  at 
length  become  like  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  trees 
of  life  being  cultivated,  and  their  fruits  enjoyed. 

Science  and  the  useful  and  ornamental  arts  will 
also  be  greatly  extended  and  cultivated.  The 
fine-toned  instrument  of  many  strings,  the  melo- 
dious organs  of  the  human  voice,  will  be  tuned  to 
poetry  and  sentiments  equally  pure  and  refined, 
and  will  pour  forth  melodies  and  strains  of  holy 
joy,  calculated  to  purify  and  melt  every  heart  in 
love,  and  fill  every  soul  with  mutual  sympathy  and 
ecstasy  of  heavenly  union. 

Geographical  knowledge,  history,  astronomy, 
mathemathics  and  navigation  will  be  greatly  ex- 
tended and  matured.  Railroads  and  telegraphic 
lines  of  communication  will  be  universally  ex- 
tended, and  the  powers  of  steam  or  other  means 
of  locomotion  brought  to  the  highest  state  of  per- 
fection. 

Thus  all  nations  will  be  associated  in  one  great 
brotherhood.  A  universal  Theocracy  will  cement 
the  whole  body  politic.  One  King  will  rule.  There 
will  be  one  Lord,  one  Faith,  one  Baptism  and  one 
Spirit. 

One  equable,  just  and  useful  commercial  inter- 
est, founded  on  the  necessity  and  convenience  of 
mutual  exchange  of  products  will  form  another 
important  bond  of  union. 

Mineralogy  will  also  be  greatly  improved  and 
its  knowledge  extended.  Its  hidden  treasures  will 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  127 

be  developed,  and  gold,  silver  and  the  most 
precious  and  beautiful  stones  will  be  the  building 
materials  in  most  common  use,  and  will  compose 
the  utensils  and  furniture  of  the  habitations  of 
man. 

The  earth  and  man,  thus  restored  and  exalted, 
will  not  yet  be  perfect  in  the  celestial  sense  of  the 
word,  but  will  be  considered,  in  the  light  of 
eternity,  as  occupying  an  intermediate  and  still 
progressive  position  amid  the  varieties  of  nature. 

The  flesh,  bones,  sinews,  nerves — all  the  or- 
gans, all  the  particles  of  the  celestial  body,  must 
be  quickened,  filled,  surrounded  with  that  divine 
and  holy  element,  which  is  purer,  more  intelligent, 
more  refined  and  active,  fuller  of  light  and  life 
than  any  other  substance  in  the  universe. 

Every  organ  must  be  restored  and  adapted  to 
its  natural  and  perfect  use  in  the  celestial  body. 

The  Greek  philosopher's  immortal  mind, 
Again  with  flesh  and  bone  and  nerve  combined; 
Immortal  brain  and  heart,  immortal  whole, 
Will  make,  as  at  the  first,  a  living  soul. 

Man,  thus  adapted  to  all  the  enjoyments  of  life 
and  love,  will  possess  the  means  of  gratifying  his 
organs  of  sight,  hearing,  taste,  etc.,  and  will  pos- 
sess, improve  and  enjoy  the  riches  of  the  eternal 
elements.  The  palace,  the  city,  the  garden,  the 
vineyard,  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  the  gold,  the 
silver,  the  precious  stones,  the  servants,  the 
chariots,  horses  and  horsemen  are  for  his  use; 
also  thrones  and  dominions,  principalities  and 
powers,  might,  majesty,  and  an  eternal  increase 
of  riches,  honors,  immortality,  and  eternal  life  are 
his.  He  is,  in  a  subordinate  sense,  a  god;  or.  in 


128  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

other  words,  one  of  the  sons  of  God.  All  things 
are  his,  and  he  is  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's. 

Such  is  the  great  Millennium. 

And  such  is  celestial  man  in  his  progress  to- 
wards perfection. 

Besides  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  celestial,  there 
are  in  the  resurrection  and  final  reward  of  man, 
many  subordinate  spheres,  many  degrees  of  re- 
ward adapted  to  an  almost  infinite  variety  of  cir- 
cumstances, conditions,  degrees  of  improvement, 
knowledge,  accountability 'and  conduct. 

The  final  state  of  man,  though  varying  in 
almost  infinite  gradations  and  rewards,  adapted  to 
his  qualifications  and  deserts,  and  meted  out  in  the 
scale  of  exact  justice  and  mercy,  may  be  conceived 
or  expressed  under  three  grand  heads  or  principal 
spheres,  viz.: 

First.  The  Telestial,  or  least  heaven,  typified 
by  the  stars  of  the  firmament. 

Second.  The  Terrestrial,  or  intermediate 
heaven,  typified  by  the  moon. 

Third.  The  Celestial,  or  third  heaven,  of 
which  the  sun  of  the  firmament  is  typical. 

The  qualifications  which  fit  and  prepare  intelli- 
gences for  these  different  spheres  or  rewards  are 
an  all  important  consideration,  and  well  worthy  of 
the  sincere  attention  of  all  people. 

These  several  kingdoms  or  degrees,  and  their 
comparative  happiness,  and  what  characters  are 
candidates  for  each  degree,  are  revealed  in  a  most 
concise,  clear,  lucid  and  beautiful  manner,  in  one 
of  the  visions  of  our  great  Prophet  and  founder. 
We  will  therefore  complete  this  chapter  by  the 
insertion  of  said 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  129 

VISION. 

Hear,  O  ye  heavens,  and  give  ear,  O  earth,  and 
rejoice,  ye  inhabitants  thereof,  for  the  Lord  is 
God,  and  beside  Him  there  is  no  Savior: 

Great  is  His  wisdom,  marvelous  are  His  ways, 
and  the  extent  of  His  doings  none  can  find  out; 

His  purposes  fail  not,  neither  are  there  any 
who  can  stay  His  hand; 

From  eternity  to  eternity  He  is  the  same,  and 
His  years  never  fail. 

For  thus  saith  the  Lord,  I,  the  Lord,  am  mer- 
ciful and  gracious  unto  those  who  fear  me,  and 
delight  to  honor  those  who  serve  me  in  righteous- 
ness and  in  truth  unto  the  end; 

Great  shall  be  their  reward  and  eternal  shall 
be  their  glory; 

And  to  them  will  I  reveal  all  mysteries,  yea,  all 
the  hidden  mysteries  of  my  Kingdom  from  days 
of  old,  and  for  ages  to  come  will  I  make  known 
unto  them  the  good  pleasure  of  my  will  concern- 
ing all  things  pertaining  to  my  Kingdom; 

Yea,  even  the  wonders  of  eternity  shall  they 
know,  and  things  to  come  will  I  show  them,  even 
the  things  of  many  generations; 

And  their  wisdom  shall  be  great,  and  their  un- 
derstanding reach  to  heaven:  and  before  them  the 
wisdom  of  the  wise  shall  perish,  and  the  under- 
standing of  the  prudent  shall  come  to  naught; 

For  by  my  Spirit  will  I  enlighten  them,  and  by 
my  power  will  I  make  known  unto  them  the 
secrets  of  my  will;  yea,  even  those  things  which 
eye  has  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  yet  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man. 


130  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

We,  Joseph  Smith,  jun.,  and  Sidney  Rigdon, 
being  in  the  Spirit  on  the  sixteenth  of  February  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  thirty-two, 

By  the  power  of  the  Spirit  our  eyes  were 
opened  and  our  understandings  were  enlightened, 
so  as  to  see  and  understand  the  things  of  God — 

Even  those  things  which  were  from  the  begin- 
ning, before  the  world  was,  which  were  ordained 
of  the  Father,  through  His  only  begotten  Son, 
who  was  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  even  from 
the  beginning. 

Of  whom  we  bear  record,  and  the  record  which 
we  bear  is  the  fullness  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  the  Son,  whom  we  saw  and  with 
whom  we  conversed  in  the  heavenly  vision; 

For  while  we  were  doing  the  work  of  transla- 
tion, which  the  Lord  had  appointed  unto  us,  we 
came  to  the  twenty-ninth  verse  of  the  fifth  chap- 
ter of  John,  which  was  given  unto  us  as  follows: 

Speaking  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  con- 
cerning those  who  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son 
of  man,  and  shall  come  forth; 

They  who  have  done  good  in  the  resurrection 
of  the  just,  and  they  who  have  done  evil  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  unjust. 

Now  this  caused  us  to  marvel,  for  it  was  given 
unto  us  of  the  Spirit; 

And  while  we  meditated  upon  these  things,  the 
Lord  touched  the  eyes  of  our  understandings  and 
they  were  opened,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone 
round  about; 

And  we  beheld  the  glory  of  the  Son,  on  the 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  131 

right  hand  of  the  Father,  and  received  of  his  full- 
ness; 

And  saw  the  holy  angels,  and  they  who  are 
sanctified  before  His  throne,  worshiping  God  and 
the  Lamb,  who  worship  him  forever  and  ever. 

And  now,  after  the  many  testimonies  which 
have  been  given  of  Him,  this  is  the  testimony, 
last  of  all,  which  we  give  of  Him,  that  He  lives; 

For  we  saw  Him,  even  on  the  right  hand  of 
God,  and  we  heard  the  voice  bearing  record  that 
He  is  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father — 

That  by  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  of  Him, 
the  worlds  are  and  were  created,  and  the  inhab- 
itants thereof  are  begotten  sons  and  daughters 
unto  God. 

And  this  we  saw  also,  and  bear  record,  that  an 
angel  of  God,  who  was  in  authority  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  who  rebelled  against  the  only  begot- 
ten Son,  whom  the  Father  loved,  and  who  was  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Father — -was  thrust  down  from 
the  presence  of  God  and  the  Son. 

And  was  called  Perdition,  for  the  heavens  wept 
over  him — he  was  Lucifer,  a  son  of  the  morning. 

And  we  beheld,  and  lo,  he  is  fallen!  is  fallen! 
even  a  son  of  the  morning. 

And  while  we  were  yet  in  the  Spirit,  the  Lord 
commanded  us  that  we  should  write  the  vision,  for 
we  beheld  Satan,  that  old  serpent,  even  the  devil, 
who  rebelled  against  God,  and  sought  to  take  the 
kingdom  of  our  God,  and  His  Christ. 

Wherefore  he  maketh  war  with  the  Saints  of 
God,  and  encompasses  them  round  about. 

And  we  saw  a  vision  of  the  sufferings  of  those 


132  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

with  whom  he  made  war  and  overcame,  for  thus 
came  the  voice  of  the  Lord  unto  us: 

Thus  saith  the  Lord,  concerning  all  those  who 
know  my  power,  and  have  been  made  partakers 
thereof,  and  suffered  themselves,  through  the 
power  of  the  devil,  to  be  overcome,  and  to  deny 
the  truth  and  defy  my  power — 

They  are  they  who  'are  the  sons  of  perdition, 
of  whom  I  say  that  it  had  been  better  for  them 
never  to  have  been  born, 

For  they  are  vessels  of  wrath,  doomed  to  suffer 
the  wrath  of  God  with  the  devil  and  his  angels  in 
eternity; 

Concerning  whom  I  have  said  there  is  no  for-" 
giveness  in  this  world  or  in  the  world  to  come, 

Having  denied  the  Holy  Spirit  after  having 
received  it,  and  having  denied  the  only  begotten 
Son  of  the  Father — having  crucified  Him  unto 
themselves,  and  put  Him  to  an  open  shame. 

These  are  they  who  shall  go  away  into  the  lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone,  with  the  devil  and  his  an- 
gels, 

And  the  only  ones  on  whom  the  second  death 
shall  have  any  power; 

Yea,  verily,  the  only  ones  who  shall  not  be  re- 
deemed in  the  due  time  of  the  Lord,  after  the 
sufferings  of  His  wrath; 

For  all  the  rest  shall  be  brought  forth  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  through  the  triumph  and 
the  glory  of  the  Lamb,  who  was  slain,  who  was  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Father  before  the  worlds  were 
made. 

And  this  is  the  Gospel,  the  glad  tidings  which 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  133 

the  voice  out  of  the  heavens  bore  record  unto  us, 

That  He  came  into  the  world,  even  Jesus,  to  be 
crucified  for  the  world,  and  to  bear  the  sins  of  the 
world,  and  to  sanctify  the  world,  and  to  cleanse  it 
from  all  unrighteousness; 

That  through  Him  all  might  be  saved  whom 
the  Father  had  put  into  His  power  and  made  by 
Him, 

Who  glorifies  the  Father,  and  saves  all  the 
works  of  His  hands,  except  those  sons  of  perdi- 
tion, who  deny  the  Son  after  the  Father  has  re- 
vealed Him; 

Wherefore,  He  saves  all  except  them;  they 
shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  which 
is  endless  punishment,  which  is  eternal  punish- 
ment, to  reign  with  the  devil  and  his  angels  in 
eternity,  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire 
is  not  quenched,  which  is  their  torment; 

And  the  end  thereof,  neither  the  place  thereof, 
nor  their  torment,  no  man  knows, 

Neither  was  it  revealed,  neither  is,  neither  will 
be  revealed  unto  man,  except  to  them  who  are 
made  partakers  thereof: 

Nevertheless  I,  the  Lord,  show  it  by  vision 
unto  many,  but  straightway  shut  it  up  again; 

Wherefore  the  end,  the  width,  the  height,  the 
depth,  and  the  misery  thereof,  they  understand 
not,  neither  any  man  except  them  who  are  or- 
dained unto  this  condemnation. 

And  we  heard  the  voice,  saying,  Write  the 
vision,  for  lo!  this  is  the  end  of  the  vision  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  ungodly! 

And   again  we   bear  record,   for  we   saw   and 


134  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

heard  and  this  is  the  testimony  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  concerning  them  who  come  forth  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  just; 

They  are  they  who  received  the  testimony  of 
Jesus,  and  believed  on  His  name  and  were  bap- 
tized after  the  manner  of  His  burial,  being  buried 
in  the  water  in  His  name,  and  this  according  to 
the  commandment  which  He  has  given, 

That  by  keeping  the  commandments  they 
might  be  washed  and  cleansed  from  all  their  sins, 
and  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  him  who  is  ordained  and  sealed  unto 
this  power, 

And  who  overcome  by  faith,  and  are  sealed  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  the  Father 
sheds  forth  upon  all  those  who  are  just  and  true. 

They  are  they  who  are  the  Church  of  the  First 
Born. 

They  are  they  into  whose  hands  the  Father  has 
given  all  things — 

They  are  they  who  are  priests  and  kings,  who 
have  received  of  His  fullness,  and  of  His  glory, 

And  are  Priests  of  the  Most -High,  after  the 
order  of  Melchizedek,  which  was  after  the  order 
of  Enoch,  which  was  after  the  order  of  the  only 
begotten  Son; 

Wherefore,  as  it  is  written,  they  are  gods,  even 
sons  of  God — 

Wherefore  all  things  are  theirs,  whether  life  or 
death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to  come,  all  are 
theirs  and  they  are  Christ's  and  Christ,  is  God's; 

And  they  shall  overcome  all  things; 

Wherefore  let  no  man  glory  in  man,  but  rather 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  135 

let  him  glory  in  God,  who  shall  subdue  all  ene- 
mies under  his  feet. 

These  shall  dwell  in  the  presence  of  God  and 
His  Christ  for  ever  and  ever. 

These  are  they  whom  He  shall  bring  with 
Him,  when  He  shall  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven, 
to  reign  on  the  earth  over  His  people. 

These  are  they  who  shall  have  part  in  the  first 
resurrection. 

These  are  they  who  shall  come  forth  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  just. 

These  are  they  who  are  come  unto  Mount  Zion, 
and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly 
place,  the  holiest  of  all. 

These  are  they  who  have  come  to  an  innumer- 
able company  of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly 
and  Church  of  Enoch,  and  of  the  First  Born. 

These  are  they  whose  names  are  written  in 
heaven,  where  God  and  Christ  are  the  judge  of  all. 

These  are  they  who  .are  just  men  made  perfect 
through  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant, 
who  wrought  out  this  perfect  atonement  through 
the  shedding  of  His  own  blood. 

These  are  they  whose  bodies  are  celestial, 
whose  glory  is  that  of  the  sun,  even  the  glory  of 
God,  the  highest  of  all,  whose  glory  the  sun  of  the 
firmament  is  written  of  as  being  typical. 

And  again,  we  saw  the  terrestrial  world,  and 
behold  and  lo,  these  are  they  who  are  of  the  ter- 
restrial, whose  glory  differs  from  that  of  the 
Church  of  the  First  Born,  who  have  received  the 
fullness  of  the  Father,  even  as  that  of  the  moon 
differs  from  the  sun  in  the  firmament. 


136  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

Behold,  these  are  they  who  died  without  law, 
and  also  they  who  are  the  spirits  of  men  kept  in 
prison,  whom  the  Son  visited  and  preached  the 
Gospel  unto,  that  they  might  be  judged  .according 
to  men  in  the  flesh, 

Who  received  not  the  testimony  of  Jesus  in 
the  flesh,  but  afterwards  received  it. 

These  are  they  who  are  honorable  men  of  the 
earth,  who  were  blinded  by  the  craftiness  of  men. 

These  are  they  who  receive  of  His  glory,  but 
not  of  His  fullness. 

These  are  they  who  receive  of  the  presence  of 
the  Son,  but  not  of  the  fullness  of  the  Father; 

Wherefore,  they  are  bodies  terrestrial,  and  not 
bodies  celestial,  and  differ  in  glory  as  the  moon 
differs  from  the  sun.  • 

These  are  they  who  are  not  valiant  in  the  tes- 
timony of  Jesus;  wherefore  they  obtained  not  the 
crown  over  the  kingdom  of  our  God. 

And  now  this  is  the  end  of  the  vision  which 
we  saw  of  the  terrestrial,  that  the  Lord  com- 
manded us  to  write  while  we  were  yet  in  the 
Spirit. 

And  again,  we  saw  the  glory  of  the  telestial, 
which  glory  is  that  of  the  lesser,  even  as  the  glory 
of  the  stars  differs  from  that  of  the  moon  in  the 
firmament. 

These  are  they  who  received  not  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  neither  the  testimony  of  Jesus. 

These  are  they  who  deny  not  the  Holy  Spirit. 

These  are  they  who  are  thrust  down  to  hell. 

These  are  they  who  shall  not  be  redeemed 
from  the  devil,  until  the  last  resurrection,  until 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  137 

the  Lord,  even  Christ  the  Lamb,  shall  have  fin- 
ished His  work. 

These  are  they  who  receive  not  of  His  fullness 
in  the  eternal  world,  but  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
through  the  ministration  of  the  terrestrial; 

And  the  terrestrial  through  the  ministration  of 
the  celestial; 

And  also  the  telestial  receive  it  of  the  adminis- 
tering of  angels  who  are  appointed  to  minister  for 
them,  or  who  are  appointed  to  be  ministering 
spirits  for  them,  for  they  shall  be  heirs  of  salva- 
tion. 

And  thus  we  saw,  in  the  heavenly  vision,  the 
glory  of  the  telestial,  which  surpasses  all  under- 
standing, 

And  no  man  knows  it,  except  him  to  whom 
God  had  revealed  it. 

And  thus  we  saw  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial, 
which  excels  in  all  things  the  glory  of  the  teles- 
tial, even  in  glory,  and  in  power,  and  in  might, 
and  in  dominion. 

And  thus  we  saw  the  glory  of  the  celestial, 
which  excels  in  all  things — where  God,  even  the 
Father,  reigns  upon  His  throne  forever  and  ever; 

Before  whose  throne  all  things  bow  in  humble 
reverence  and  give  Him  glory  forever  and  ever. 

They  who  dwell  in  His  presence  are  the  Church 
of  the  First  Born,  and  they  see  as  they  are  seen, 
and  know  as  they  are  known,  having  received  of 
His  fullness  and  of  His  grace; 

And  He  -makes  them  equal  in  power,  and  in 
might,  and  in  dominion. 

And  the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  even  as 
the  glory  of  the  sun  is  one. 


138  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

And  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  one,  even  as 
the  glory  of  the  moon  is  one. 

And  the  glory  of  the  telestial  is  one,  even  as 
the  glory  of  the  stars  is  one,  for  as  one  star  differs 
from  another  star  in  glory,  even  so  differs  one 
from  another  in  glory  in  the  telestial  world; 

For  these  are  they  who  are  of  Paul,  and  of 
Apollos,  and  of  Cephas. 

These  are  they  who  say  they  are  some  of  one 
and  some  of  another — some  of  Christ,  and  some 
of  John,  and  some  of  Moses,  and  some  of  Elias, 
and  some  of  Esaias,  and  some  of  Isaiah,  and  some 
of  Enoch; 

But  received  not  the  Gospel,  neither  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  neither  the  prophets,  neither  the 
everlasting  covenant. 

Last  of  all,  these  all  are  they  who  will  not  be 
gathered  with  the  Saints,  to  be  caught  up  unto  the 
Church  of  the  First  Born,  and  received  into  the 
colud. 

These  are  they  who  are  liars,  and  sorcerers, 
and  adulterers,  and  whoremongers,  and  whosoever 
loves  and  makes  a  lie. 

These  are  they  who  suffer  the  wrath  of  God  on 
the  earth. 

These  are  they  who  suffer  the  vengeance  of 
eternal  fire. 

These  are  they  who  are  cast  down  to  hell  and 
suffer  the  wrath  of  Almighty  God,  until  the  full- 
ness of  times  when  Christ  shall  have  subdued  all 
enemies  under  His  feet,  and  shall  have  perfected 
His  work. 

When  He  shall  deliver  up  the  Kingdom,   and 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  139 

present  in  unto  the  Father  spotless,  saying — I 
have  overcome  and  have  trodden  the  wine-press 
alone,  even  the  wine-press  of  the  fierceness  of  the 
wrath  of  Almighty  God. 

Then  shall  He  be  crowned  with  the  crown  of 
His  glory,  to  sit  on  the  throne  of  His  power  to 
reign  for  ever  and  ever. 

But  behold,  and  lo,  we  saw  the  glory  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  telestial  world,  that  they  were 
as  innumerable  as  the  stars  in  the  firmament  of 
heaven,  or  as  the  sand  upon  the  sea  shore, 

And  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  saying — 
These  all  shall  bow  the  knee,  and  every  tongue 
shall  confess  to  Him  who  sits  upon  the  throne 
for  ever  and  ever; 

For  they  shall  be  judged  according  to  their 
works,  and  every  man  shall  receive,  according  to 
his  own  works,  his  own  dominion,  in  the  man- 
sions which  are  prepared. 

And  they  shall  be  servants  of  the  Most  High, 
but  where  God  and  Christ  dwell  they  cannot  come, 
worlds  without  end. 

This  is  the  end  of  the  vision  which  we  saw, 
which  we  were  commanded  to  write  while  we 
were  yet  in  the  Spirit. 

But  great  and  marvelous  are  the  works  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  mysteries  of  His  Kingdom  which 
He  showed  unto  us,  which  surpasses  all  under- 
standing in  glory,  and  in  might,  and  in  dominion, 

Which  He  commanded  us  we  should  not  write 
while  we  were  yet  in  the  Spirit,  and  are  not  lawful 
for  man  to  utter; 

Neither  is  man  capable  to  make  them  known, 


140  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

for  they  are  only  to  be  seen  and  understood  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  God  bestows  on 
those  who  love  Him,  and  purify  themselves  before 
Him; 

To  whom  He  grants  this  privilege  of  seeing 
and  knowing  for  themselves; 

That  through  the  power  and  manifestation  of 
the  Spirit,  while  in  the  flesh,  they  may  be  able  to 
bear  His  presence  in  the  world  of  glory. 

And  to  God  and  the  Lamb  be  glory,  and  honor, 
and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

FURTHER  REMARKS  ON  MAN'S  PHYSICAL  AND  IN- 
TELLECTUAL PROGRESS  —  PHILOSOPHY  OF 
WILL,  AS  ORIGINATING,  DIRECTING  AND  CON- 
TROLLING ALL  VOLUNTARY  ANIMAL  MOTION- 
ASTOUNDING  FACTS  IN  RELATION  TO  THE 
SPEED  OR  VELOCITY  OF  MOTION,  AS  ATTAIN- 
ABLE BY  PHYSICAL  MAN— INTERCOMMUNICA- 
TION OF  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  DIFFERENT 
AND  DISTANT  PLANETS. 

Wide,  and  more  wide,  the  kindling  bosom  swells, 
As  love  inspires,  and  truth  its  wonders  tells, 
The  soul  enraptured  tunes  the  sacred  lyre, 
And  bids  a  worm  of  earth  to  heaven  aspire, 
'Mid  solar  systems  numberless  to  soar, 
The  depths  of  love  and  science  to  explore. 

As  I  have  before  remarked,  man  is  a  candidate 
for  a  series  of  progressive  changes,  all  tending  to 
develop  his  intellectual  and  physical  facultes,  to 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  141 

expand  his  mind,  and  to  enlarge  his  sphere  of 
action  and  consequent  usefulness  and  happiness. 

He  begins  his  physical,  or  rudimental,  fleshly 
career  by  descending  below  all  things.  He  has  at 
his  birth  less  power  of  locomotion,  or  even  in- 
stinct, than  other  animals. 

His  powers  of  motion  are  so  very  limited,  that 
for  several  months  he  is  entirely  unable  to  change 
his  locality.  Wherever  he  is  placed,  there  he 
must  remain  until  removed  by  the  agency  of 
others.  He  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  a  will,  or, 
at  least,  it  is  so  undeveloped  as  scarcely  to  man- 
ifest itself  by  any  effort  beyond  the  movement  of 
some  portion  of  his  members.  While  he  remains 
in  this  state  of  mental  inability  and  physical  help- 
lessness, a  casual  observer,  entirely  unacquainted 
with  his  progress  and  destiny,  might  very  nat- 
urally conclude  that  this  was  the  climax  of  his 
maturity,  the  natural  sphere  of  his  eternal  exist- 
ence. 

A  few  months,  however,  develop  a  marked 
change,  he  begins  to  learn  the  use  and  put  forth 
the  powers  of  his  will.  The  body,  developed  in  a 
commensurate  degree,  is  able  to  obey  that  will. 
Thus  commences  locomotion.  The  child  crawls 
or  creeps  about  the  floor,  explores  the  little  world 
— that  is  to  say,  the  room — where  he  resides,  or 
the  adjoining  apartment,  becomes  familiar  with  its 
dimensions,  bearings  and  contents,  and  recog- 
nizes his  associates  or  fellow  citizens  of  the  same 
Ittle  world.  Then  he  becomes  familiar  with  the 
science  of  geography  and  of  history,  if  I  may  so 
call  it,  in  his  little  world. 


142  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

Prompted  by  curiosity,  he  may,  perhaps,  cast 
an  occasional  glance  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own 
abode.  He  may  contemplate  a  building  or  land- 
scape on  the  other  side  of  the  street  or  field,  but 
with  much  of  the  same  feeling  as  a  man,  more 
matured,  casts  his  eyes  to  the  distant  planets.  He 
concludes  that  these  distant  objects  are  entirely 
beyond  the  reach  of  his  powers  of  locomotion. 

In  a  short  time,  however,  his  faculties,  still  ex- 
panding, develop  new  and  increasing  energies.  He 
conceives  "big  thoughts."  He  even  thinks  of  dis- 
pensing with  his  plodding,  creeping  manner  of 
locomotion,  and  of  trying  to  stand  upright,  and 
even  makes  a  first  step  towards  walking.  It  is  a 
great  undertaking.  He  hesitates,  doubts,  fears, 
hopes  till  finally,  being  cheered  onward  in  his 
career  by  his  parents  or  his  nurse,  he  makes  the 
attempt.  After  several  falls,  failures,  and  disap- 
pointments, he  at  length  succeeds  in  walking  two 
or  three  steps.  O,  what  a  triumph  i'n  his  powers 
of  locomotion!  He  is  cheered,  embraced,  over- 
whelmed, by  those  who  have  been  watching  his 
progress  and  encouraging  him,  until,  overcome 
and  carried  away  by  an  ecstasy  of  transport,  he 
falls,  blushing,  smiling  and  exulting  into  the  arms 
held  out  for  his  reception.  He  dreams  not-  of  a 
higher  attainment.  He  is  now,  in  his  own  estima- 
tion, at  the  very  highest  pinnacle  of  human  de- 
velopment. 

Improving  in  his  new  mode  of  locomotion,  he 
soon  runs  about  the  yard,  along  the  street,  through 
the  field,  makes  new  discoveries,  sees  new  habi- 
tations, enlarges  his  geographical  knowledge,  and 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  143 

begins  to  conceive  the  probability  that  his  views 
have  been  too  narrow,  and  that  there  may  be  a 
bigger  world,  more  people,  and  more  buildings 
than  were  dreamed  of  in  his  philosophy. 

In  a  few  years  he  may  become  familiar  with 
the  geography  and  history  of  the  island  or  con- 
tinent on  which  he  lives.  He  may  even  begin  to 
aspire  after  the  knowledge  of  other  climes,  and  to 
conceive  or  conjecture  that  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  almost  infinite  expanse  of  waters  things  and 
beings  may  exist  after  the  similitude  of  his  own 
•  sphere.  He  longs  to  overcome  the  physical  bar- 
riers which  confine  him  in  so  limited  a  sphere, 
and  thus  enlarge  his  acquaintance,  his  social  feel- 
ings, his  friendship,  his  affections  and  his  scientific 
knowledge. 

So  boundless  and  varied  is  the  field,  so  com- 
plicated are  the  obstacles  to  be  surmounted,  so 
vast  the  preparations,  improvements  and  inven- 
tions to  be  brought  into  requisition,  that  after 
ages  and  generations  have  exhausted  their  ener- 
gies, much  is  still  left  to  be  done,  much  which  can 
only  be  done  by  the  progress  and  extension  of 
those  modern  triumphs  of  art  by  which  the  ele- 
ments, the  fire,  the  wind,  the  water,  the  lightning, 
submit  to  the  control  of  man,  and  become  his 
chariot,  his  bearer  of  dispatches.  By  these  means 
the  globe  we  occupy  will  soon  be  explored,  the 
limits,  boundaries  and  resources  of  every  dark 
corner  be  clearly  defined  and  understood. 

Man  already  moves  over  the  surface  of  the 
earth  at  the  rate  of  fifty,  sixty  and  even  ninety 
miles  per  hour,  and  still  he  aspires.  He  contem- 


144  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

plates  making  the  air  his  chariot,  and  wafting  him- 
self through  the  open  firmament  at  the  rate  of 
perhaps  a  thousand  miles  per  hour.  Suppose  he 
attains  to  this,  what  then?  Will  the  great,  the 
infinite  principle  within  him  be  satisfied?  No. 
He  lifts  his  eyes*  to  the  contemplation  of  those 
myriads  of  shining  orbs  on  high.  He  knows  by 
actual  admeasurement  that  some  of  them  are 
much  larger  than  the  planet  he  occupies.  He  also 
knows  by  analogy  that  eternal  riches  are  there; 
that  a  boundless  store  of  element  and  resources 
is  there;  that  they  are  treasured  there  for  the  use, 
comfort,  convenience  and  enjoyment  of  intel- 
lectual and  physical  beings — beings,  for  aught  he 
knows,  of  his  own  species,  and  connected  with  him 
by  kindred  ties,  or  by  the  law  of  universal  sym- 
pathy and  affection.  He  has  reason  to  believe 
that  there  are  gold  and  silver,  that  there  are 
precious  stones,  and  houses,  and  cities,  and  gar- 
dens. That  there  are  walks  of  pleasure,  and  foun- 
tains, forests,  brooks  and  rivers  of  delight;  that 
there  are  bosoms  fraught  with  life  and  joy,  and 
swelling  with  all  the  tender  sensibilities  of  a  pure,  • 
holy  and  never-ending  affection. 

Why,  then,  should  his  aspirations  not  reach 
forth,  his  mind  expand,  his  bosom  swell,  and  his 
heart  beat  with  the  boundless,  fathomless,  infini- 
tude of  thought,  of  feeling  and  of  love?  Why  not 
be  noble  and  boundless  in  charity,  like  the  God 
whom  he  calls  his  Father?  Why  does  he  not  rise 
from  his  groveling  sphere  in  the  small  island, 
which  floats  in  the  ocean  of  space  as  a  little  speck 
amid  the  numberless  shining  orbs?  The  reason  is 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  145 

obvious;  it  is  not  for  the  want  of  noble  aspira- 
tions; it  is  not  for  the  want  of  grand  conceptions; 
it  is  not  for  the  lack  of  will.  It  is  because  the 
body  is  chained,  imprisoned,  confined  here  by  the 
operation  or  attraction  of  surrounding  elements 
which  man  has  not  yet  discovered  the  means  to 
control.  It  may  be  said  that  the  powers  of  earth 
enslave  him  and  chain  him  down  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility or  hope  of  escape. 

Reader,  in  order  to  illustrate  this  subject,  try 
an  experiment  on  your  own  physical  and  mental 
powers.  For  instance,  will  your  arm  to  move,  and 
it  will  instantly  obey  you.  Will  your  body  to  go 
three  miles,  and  it  will  obey  you  as  fast  as  it  can, 
perhaps  in  one  hour  it  will  have  accomplished  the 
journey  assigned  to  it  by  your  will. 

But  tie  your  hand  behind  you  and  then  will  it 
to  move  up  and  down,  forward  and  backward,  and 
it  will  make  the  effort  to  obey  you,  but  cannot 
because  it  is  confined.  Chain  your  body  in  a  dun- 
geon, bolt  and  bar  the  door,  and  will  it  to  a  cer- 
tain place,  and  it  will  not  obey  you,  because  it  is 
physically  incapable. 

Unchain  this  body,  provide  the  means  of  con- 
veyance at  the  rate  of  a  mile  per  minute;  the  body, 
at  the  bidding  of  the  will,  will  then  go  the  three 
miles  in  three  minutes. 

Now,  if  it  were  possible  to  overcome  the  re- 
sisting elements  so  as  to  increase  the  speed  of 
conveyance  of  your  body,  that  is,  if  there  were  no 
resisting  element  to  be  overcome,  your  will  might 
dictate  and  your  body  would  move  through  actual 
space  with  the  speed  of  light  and  electricity. 

10 


146  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

There  is  no  apparent  limit  to  the  speed  attainable 
by  the  body  when  unchained,  set  free  from  the 
elements  which  now  enslave  it,  and  dictated  by 
the  will. 

"The  lightning  on  its  wiry  way  would  lag  behind, 
The  sun-ray  drag  its  tardy  length   along." 

This  immense  velocity  of  locomotion,  as  ap- 
plied to  a  body  of  flesh  and  bones,  or  of  material 
elements,  may,  at  first  thought,  strike  the  mind  as 
being  contrary  to  the  known  laws  of  physical 
motion. 

But  let  it  be  recollected  that  the  vast  earth  on 
which  we  dwell,  with  all  its  weight  and  bulk,  its 
cities,  animals  and  intelligences,  moves  through 
actual  space  at  the  astonishing  velocity  of  eigh- 
teen miles  per  second,  one  thousand  and  eighty 
miles  per  minute,  or  sixty-four  thousand  eight 
hundred  miles  per  hour. 

If  so  vast  a  bulk  of  gross,  and  in  a  great  meas- 
ure inanimate  matter,  can  move  through  space  at 
a  rate  of  speed  so  inconceivably  great,  how  easily 
we  can  conceive  the  probability  of  vastly  increased 
powers  of  locomotion  on  the  part  of  animate 
bodies  released  from  their  earthly  prison,  quick- 
ened by  superior  and  celestial'  element,  dictated 
by  an  independent,  inherent  principle  called  the 
will,  and  urged  onward  by  the  promptings  of  the 
eternal,  infinite  mind  and  affections,  in  their  aspi- 
rations for  knowledge  and  enjoyment. 

A  corporeal,  human  body,  raised  from  the  dead 
and  quickened  by  elements  so  refined,  so  full  of  life 
and  motion,  so  pure  and  so  free  from  the  influ- 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  147 

ences,  control  or  attractions  of  more  gross  ele- 
ments, will,  like  the  risen  Jesus,  ascend  and  de- 
scend at  will  and  with  a  speed  nearly  instantane- 
ous. 

Let  us  pause  and  contemplate  for  a  moment 
such  a  being  taking  leave  of  the  confines  of  the 
earth,  and.  sea,  and  clouds,  and  air,  with  all  their 
dark  and  gloomy  shadows.  Behold  him  as  he 
speeds  his  way  on  the  upper  deep,  and  launches 
forth  in  the  clear  and  boundless  expanse  be- 
spangled with  millions  of  resplendent  orbs. 

He  calculates*  his  distance  and  regulates  his 
couse  by  observing  the  relative  position  of  those 
most  familiar  to  him,  and,  soaring  upwards  still, 
his  bosom  swells  with  an  unutterable  and  over- 
whelming sensation  of  the  infinitude  of  his  own 
eternal  being  and  of  all  around,  above,  below  him, 
till,  unable  to  contain  his  gratitude,  and  joy,  and 
exultation,  he  breaks  forth  in  the  language  of  a 
celebrated  British  poet,  and  sings  as  he  flies: 

"Heaven's  broad  day  has  o'er  me  broken, 

Far  above  earth's  span  of  sky! 
Am  I  dead?     Nay,  by  this  token, 
Know  that  I  have  ceased  to  die!" 

Planets  will  be  visited,  messages  communicated, 
acquaintances  and  friendships  formed,  and  the 
sciences  vastly  extended  and  cultivated. 

The  science  of  geography  will  then  be  extended 
to  millions  of  worlds,  and  will  embrace  a  knowl- 
edge of  their  physical  features  and  boundaries, 
their  resources,  mineral  and  vegetable,  their  rivers, 
lakes,  seas,  continents  and  islands,  the  attainments 
of  their  inhabitants  in  the  science  of  government, 


148  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

their  progress  in  revealed  religion,  their  employ- 
ments, dress,  manners,  customs,  etc.  The  science 
of  astronomy  will  also  be  enlarged  in  proportion 
to  the  means  of  knowledge.  System  after  system 
will  rise  to  view  in  the  vast  field  of  research  and 
exploration!  Vast  systems  of  suns  and  their  at- 
tendant worlds,  on  which  the  eyes  of  Adam's  race, 
in  their  rudimental  sphere,  have  never  gazed,  will 
then  be  contemplated,  circumscribed,  weighed  in 
the  balance  of  human  thought,  their  circumference 
and  diameter  be  ascertained,  their  relative  dis- 
tances understood.  Their  motions  and  revolu- 
tions, their  times  and  laws,  thejr  hours,  days, 
weeks,  sabbaths,  months,  years,  jubilees,  centuries, 
millenniums  and  eternities,  will  all  be  told  in  the 
volumes  of  science. 

The  science  of  history  will  embrace  the  vast 
"uni'verccelum"  of  the  past  and  present.  It  will,  in 
its  vast  compilations,  embrace  and  include  all  na- 
tions, all  ages,  and  all  generations;  all  the  plane- 
tary systems  in  all  their  varied  progress  and 
changes,  in  all  their  productions  and  attributes. 

It  will  trace  our  race  in  all  its  successive  emi- 
grations, colonies,  states,  kingdoms  and  empires; 
from  their  first  existence  on  the  great,  central, 
governing  planet,  or  sun,  called  Kolob,  until  they 
are  increased  without  number,  and  widely  dis- 
persed and  transplanted  from  one  planet  to  an- 
other, until  occupying  the  very  confines  of  infini- 
tude, the  mind  of  immortal,  eternal  man,  is  ab- 
sorbed, overwhelmed,  wearied  with  the  vastness, 
the  boundless  expanse  of  historic  fact,  and  com- 
pelled to  return  and  retire  within  itself  for  re- 
freshment, rest  and  renewed  vigor. 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  149 

Next  in  order  will  be  the  field  of  prophetic 
science.  The  spirit  of  prophecy  will  be  poured 
upon  the  immortal  mind,  till,  from  seeing  in  part, 
and  knowing  in  part,  man  will  be  able  to  -gaze 
upon  a  boundless  prospective,  a  future  of  still  in- 
creasing glory,  knowledge,  light,  love,  might, 
majesty,  power  and  dominion,  in  which  the  sons 
of  God,  the  kings,  and  priests  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  of  the  heaven  of  heavens,  and  all  their  retinue 
of  kingdoms  and  subjects,  will  find  ample  room 
for  boundless  increase  and  improvement,  worlds 
without  end.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
LAWS    OF    MARRIAGE   AND    PROCREATION. 

Ye   kindred   spirits,   filled   with   mutual  love, 
Pure  as  the  dews  descending  from  above, 
All  hail!   for  you  the  sacred  keys  are  given, 
To  make  you  one  on  earth,  and  one  in  heaven. 
Be  fruitful,  then,  and  let  your  race  extend; 
Fill  earth,  the  stars,  and  worlds  that  never  end. 

THE  great  science  of  life  consists  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  ourselves,  the  laws  of  our  existence,  the 
relations  we  sustain  to  each  other,  to  things  and 
beings  around  us,  to  our  ancestry,  to  our  posterity, 
to  time,  to"  eternity,  to  our  heavenly  Father  and  to 
the  universe. 

To  understand  these  laws,  and  regulate  our 
actions  by  them,  is  the  whole  duty  of  intelligences 
It  should  therefore  comprise  our  whole  study. 


150  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

This  science  comprises  the  fountain  of  wisdom, 
the  well-springs  of  life,  the  boundless  ocean  of 
knowledge,  the  infinitude  of  light,  and  truth,  and 
love.  It  penetrates  the  depths,  soars  to  the 
heights,  and  circumscribes  the  broad  expanse  of 
eternity. 

Its  pursuit  leads  to  exaltation,  glory,  immor- 
tality and  to  an  eternity  of  life,  light,  purity  and 
unity  of  fellowship  with  kindred  spirits. 

To  contemplate  man  in  his  true  light,  we  must, 
as  it  were,  forget  that  death  is  in  his  path;  we 
must  look  upon  him  as  an  eternal,  ever-living  be- 
ing, possessing  spirit,  flesh  and  bones,  with  all  the 
mental  and  physical  organs,  and  all  the  affections 
and  sympathies  which  characterize  him  in  this 
world.  Or,  rather,  all  his  natural  affections  and 
sympathies  will  be  purified,  exalted  and  immeas- 
urably increased. 

Let  the  candidate  for  celestial  glory  forget,  for 
a  moment,  the  groveling  sphere  of  his  present 
existence,  and  make  the  effort  to  contemplate 
himself  in  the  light  of  eternity,  in  the  higher 
spheres  of  his  progressive  existence,  beyond  the 
grave,  a  pure  spirit,  free  from  sin  and  guile,  en- 
lightened in  the  school  of  heaven,  by  observation 
and  experience,  and  association  with  the  highest 
order  of  intelligences,  for  thousands  of  years,  and 
clothed  with  immortal  flesh,  in  all  the  vigor,  fresh- 
ness and  beauty  of  eternal  youth,  free  alike  from 
pain,  disease,  death,  and  the  corroding  effects  of 
time,  looking  back  through  the  vista  of  far  distant 
years,  and  contemplating  his  former  sojourn  amid 
the  sorrows  and  pains  of  mortal  life,  his  passage 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  151 

through  the  dark  valley  of  death,  and  his  sojourn 
in  the  spirit  world,  as  we  now  contemplate  a 
transcient  dream,  or  a  night  of  sleep,  from  which 
we  have  awakened,  renewed  and  refreshed,  to 
enter  again  upon  the  realities  of  life. 

Let  us  contemplate  for  a  moment  such  a  being, 
clothed  in  the  finest  robes  of  linen,  pure  and 
white,  adorned  with  precious  stones  and  gold;  a 
countenance  radiant  with  the  effulgence  of  light, 
intelligence  and  love;  a  bosom  glowing  with  all 
the  confidence  of  conscious  innocence,  dwelling 
in  palaces  of  precious  stones  and  gold;  bathing 
in  the  crystal  waters  of  life;  promenading  or  sit- 
ting beneath  the  evergreen  bowers  and  trees  of 
Eden;  inhaling  the  healthful  breezes,  perfumed 
with  odor,  wafted  from  the  roses  and  pinks  of 
paradise,  or  assembled  with  the  countless  myriads 
of  heaven's  nobility,  to  join  in  songs  of  praise 
and  adoration  to  the  Great  Parent  of  every  good, 
to  tune  the  immortal  lyre  in  strains  celestial;  or 
move  with  grace  immortal  to  the  soul-inspiring 
measure  of  music  flowing  from  a  thousand  instru- 
ments, blending,  in  harmonious  numbers,  with 
celestial  voices,  in  heavenly  song,  or  mingling 
in  graceful  circles  with  joyous  thousands,  im- 
mersed in  the  same  spirit,  and  moving  in  unison 
and  harmony  of  motion,  as  if  one  heart,  one  pulse, 
one  thrill  of  heavenly  melody  inspired  the  whole. 

O  candidates  for  celestial  glory!  Would  your 
joys  be  full  in  the  countless  years  of  eternity 
without  forming  the  connections,  the  relationship, 
the  kindred  ties  which  concentrate  in  the  do- 
.tnestic  circle,  and  branch  forth,  and  bud  and 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


152  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

blossom,  and  bear  the  fruits  of  eternal  increase? 

Would  that  eternal  emotion  of  charity  and 
benevolence  which  swells  your  bosoms  be  satisfied 
to  enjoy  in  "single  blessedness,"  without  an  in- 
crease of  posterity,  those  exhaustless  stores  of 
never  ending  riches  and  enjoyments?  Or,  would 
you,  like  your  heavenly  Father,  prompted  by 
eternal  benevolence  and  charity,  wish  to  fill  count- 
less millions  of  worlds  with  your  begotten  sons 
and  daughters,  and  to  bring  them  through  all  the 
gradations  of  progressive  being,  to  inherit  im- 
mortal bodies  and  eternal  mansions  in  your  sev- 
eral dominions? 

If  such  be  your  aspirations,  remember  that 
this  present  probation  is  the  world  of  preparation 
for  joys  eternal.  This  is  the  place  where  family 
organization  is  first  formed  for  eternity,  and 
where  the  kindred  sympathies,  relationships  and 
affections  take  root,  spring  forth,  shoot  upward, 
bud,  blossom  and  bear  fruit  to  ripen  and  mature 
in  eternal  ages. 

Here,  in  the  holy  temples  and  sanctuaries  of 
our  God,  must  the  everlasting  covenants  be  re- 
vealed, ratified,  sealed,  bound  and  recorded  in  the 
holy  records,  and  guarded  and  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  God's  Kingdom,  by  those  who  hold 
the  keys  of  eternal  apostleship,  who  have  power 
to  bind  on  earth  that  which  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven,  and  to  record  on  earth  that  which  shall 
be  recorded  in  the  archives  of  heaven,  in  the 
Lamb's  book  of  life. 

Here,  in  the  holy  sanctuary,  must  be  revealed, 
ordained  and  anointed  the  kings  and  queens  of 
eternity. 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  153 

All  vows,  covenants,  contracts,  marriages  or 
unions,  not  formed  by  revelation,  and  sealed  for 
time  and  all  eternity,  and  recorded  in  the  holy 
archives  of  earth  and  heaven,  by  the  ministration 
of  the  holy  and  eternal  PRIESTHOOD,  will  be  dis- 
solved by  death,  and  will  not  be  recognized  by 
the  eternal  authorities,  after  the  parties  have 
entered  through  the  vail  into  the  eternal  world. 

This  is  heaven's  eternal  law,  as  revealed  to  the 
ancients  of  all  ages,  who  held  the  keys  of  eternal 
Priesthood,  after  the  order  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
as  restored  with  the  Priesthood  to  the  Saints  of 
this  age. 

Strict  laws  were  also  given  and  diligently 
taught  to  both  sexes,  regulating  the  intercourse 
between  husband  and  wife.  All  intercourse  pe- 
culiar to  the  sexes  was  strictly  prohibited  at 
certain  seasons  which  were  untimely.  Nor  were 
the  bonds  of  wedlock  any  shield  from  condemna- 
tion, where  the  parties,  by  untimely  union,  excess 
or  voluntary  act,  prevented  propagation,  or  injured 
the  life  or  health  of  themselves  or  their  offspring. 

The  object  of  the  union  of  the  sexes  is  the 
propagation  of  their  species,  or  procreation;  also 
for  mutual  affection,  and  the  cultivation  of  those 
eternal  principles  of  never  ending  charity  and 
benevolence,  which  are  inspired  by  the  Eternal 
Spirit;  also  for  mutual  comfort  and  assistance 
in  this  world  of  toil  and  sorrow,  and  for  mutual 
duties  toward  their  offspring. 

Marriage  and  its  duties  are  therefore  not  a 
mere  matter  of  choice  or  convenience,  or  of 
pleasure  to  the  parties,  but  to  marry  and  multiply 


154  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

is  a  positive  command  of  Almighty  God,  binding 
on  all  persons  of  both  sexes  who  are  circum- 
stanced and  conditioned  to  fulfill  the  same.  To 
marry,  propagate  our  species,  do  our  duty  to 
them,  and  to  educate  them  in  the  light  of  truth, 
are  among  the  chief  objects  of  our  existence  on 
the  earth.  To  neglect  these  duties,  is  to  fail  to 
answer  the  end  of  our  creation,  and  is  a  very  great 
sin. 

While  to  pervert  our  natures  and  to  prostitute 
ourselves  and  our  strength  to  mere  pleasures,  or 
to  unlawful  communion  of  the  sexes,  is  alike  sub- 
versive of  health,  of  pure,  holy  and  lasting  affec- 
tion, of  moral  and  social  order,  and-  of  the  laws 
of  God  and  nature. 

If  we  except  murder,  there  is  scarcely  a  more 
damning  sin  on  the  earth  than  the  prostitution  of 
female  virtue  or  chastity  at  the  shrine  of  pleas- 
ure or  brutal  Ir.st,  or  that  promiscuous  and  lawless 
intercourse  which  chills  and  corrodes  the  heart, 
perverts  and  destroys  the  pure  affections,  cankers 
and  destroys,  as  it  were,  the  well-springs,  the 
fountains  or  issues  of  life. 

A  man  who  obeys  the  ordinances  of  God,  and 
is  without  blemish  or  deformity,  who  has  sound 
health  and  mature  age,  and  enjoys  liberty  and 
access  to  the  elements  of  life,  is  designed  to  be  the 
head  of  a  woman,  a  father,  and  a  guide  of  the 
weaker  sex  and  of  those  of  tender  age,  to  man- 
sions of  eternal  life  and  salvation. 

A  woman  under  similar  circumstances  is  de- 
signed to  be  the  glory  of  some  man  in  the  Lord, 
to  be  led  and  governed  by  him  as  her  head  in  all 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  155 

things,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  man, 
to  honor,  obey,  love,  serve,  comfort  and  help  him 
in  all  things,  to  be  a  happy  wife,  and,  if  blessed 
with  offspring,  a  faithful  and  affectionate  mother, 
devoting  her  life  to  the  joys,  cares,  and  duties  of 
her  domestic  sphere. 

The  false  and  corrupt  institutions,  and  still 
more  corrupt  practices  of  "Christendom"  have 
had  a  downward  tendency  in  the  generations  of 
man  for  many  centuries.  Our  physical  organiza- 
tion, health,  vigor,  strength  of  body,  intellectual 
faculties,  inclinations,  etc.,  are  influenced  very 
much  by  parentage.  Hereditary  disease,  idiocy, 
weakness  of  mind,  or  of  constitution,  deformity, 
tendency  to  violent  and  ungovernable  passions, 
vicious  appetites  and  desires,  are  often  engendered 
by  parents,  and  bequeathed  as  a  heritage  from 
generation  to  generation.  Man  becomes  a  mur- 
derer, a  thief,  an  adulterer,  a  drunkard,  a  lover 
of  tobacco,  opium,  or  other  nauseous  or  poisonous 
drugs,  by  means  of  the  predisposition  and  inclina- 
tions engendered  by  parentage. 

The  people  before  the  flood,  and  also  the 
Sodomites  and  Canaani'tes,  had  carried  these  cor- 
ruptions and  degeneracies  so  far  that  God,  in 
mercy,  destroyed  them,  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the 
procreation  of  races  so  degenerate  and  abomin- 
able, while  Noah,  Abraham,  Melchizedek  and 
others,  who  were  taught  the  true  laws  of  procrea- 
tion, "were  perfect  in  their  generation"  and  trained 
their  children  in  the  same  laws. 

The  overthrow  of  those  ancient  degenerate 
races  is  a  type  of  that  which  now  awaits  the  na- 


156  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

tions  called  "Christian,"  or,  in  other  words,  "the 
great  whore  of  all  the  earth,  for  her  sins  have 
reached  unto  heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered 
her  iniquities." 

Where  is  the  nation  called  "Christian"  that 
does  not  permit  prostitution,  fornication  and 
adultery,  with  all  their  debasing,  demoralizing, 
degenerating  and  corroding  effects,  with  all  their 
tendencies  to  disease  and  crime,  to  leaven  and 
corrode  society? 

Where  is  the  "Christian  nation"  that  punishes 
the  crimes  of  adultery  and  fornication  with  death, 
or  other  heavy  penalties? 

Where  are  the  institutions  which  prohibit  the 
marriage  of  all  persons  disqualified  by  nature,  or 
by  vicious  habits  and  practices,  to  answer  the 
ends  of  an  institution  so  holy  and  pure? 

In  the  holy  chambers  of  the  sanctuary  in  Zion 
are  revealed  and  administered  those  sacred  or- 
dinances, covenants  and  sealings  which  lay  the 
foundation  of  kindred  sympathies,  associations 
and  family  ties,  indissoluble  and  eternal.  Ties 
which  are  stronger  than  death,  more  durable  than 
the  ramparts  of  their  snow-clad  mountains,  and 
which  will  never  be  dissolved. 

"While  life,  or  thought,  or  being  lasts, 
Or   immortality   endures." 

The  restoration  of  these  pure  Jaws  and  prac- 
tices has  commerced  to  improve  or  regenerate 
a  race.  A  holy  and  temperate  life,  pure  morals 
and  manners,  faith,  hope,  charity,  cheerfulness, 
gentleness,  integrity,  intellectual  development, 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  157 

pure  truth  and  knowledge,  and  above  all  the  oper- 
ations of  the  divine  Spirit,  will  produce  a  race 
more  beautiful  in  form  and  features,  stronger 
and  more  vigorous  in  constitution,  happier  in 
temperament  and  disposition,  more  intellectual, 
less  vicious  and  better  prepared  for  long  life  and 
good  days  in  their  mortal  sojourn. 

Each  succeeding  generation,  governed  by  the 
same  principles,  will  still  improve,  till  male  and 
female  may  live  and  multiply  for  a  hundred  years 
upon  the  earth, 

"And  after  death,  in  distant  spheres 
The   union   still   renew." 

The  eternal  union  of  the  sexes,  in  and  after 
the  resurrection  is  mainly  for  the  purpose 
of  renewing  and  continuing  the  work  of  pro- 
creation. In  our  present  or  rudimental  state, 
our  offspring  are  in  our  own  image  and  partake 
of  our  natures,  in  which  are  the  seeds  of  death. 
In  like  manner  will  the  offspring  of  immortal  and 
celestial  beings  be  in  the  likeness  and  partake  of 
the  nature  of  their  divine  parentage.  Hence  such 
offspring  will  be  pure,  holy,  incorruptible  and 
eternal.  They  will  in  no  wise  be  subject  unto 
death,  except  by  descending  to  partake  of  the 
grosser  elements,  in  which  are  the  inherent 
properties  of  dissolution  or  death. 

To  descend  thus  and  to  be  made  subject  to 
sorrow,  pain  and  death,  is  the  only  road  to  the 
resurrection  and  to  the  higher  degrees  of  im- 
mortality and  eternal  life.  It  is  by  contrast  that 
the  intelligences  appreciate  and  enjoy.  How  shall 


158  KEY    TO    THEOLOGY. 

the  sweet  be  known  without  the  bitter?  How 
shall  joy  be  appreciated  without  sorrow?  Or,  how 
shall  life  be  valued,  or  its  eternal  duration  ap- 
preciated, without  a  contact  with  its  mortal  an- 
tagonist, death? 

Hence,  the  highest  degrees  of  eternal  felicity 
are  approached  by  the  straight  gate  and  the  nar- 
row path  which  leads  through  the  dark  valley  of 
death,  to  eternal  mansions  in  the  realms  of  end- 
less life.  This  path  has  been  trodden  by  the  Eter- 
nal Father,  by  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  all 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  God  who  are  exalted  to 
a  fullness  of  joys  celestial. 

As  has  been  before  remarked,  the  union  of  the 
sexes  in  the  eternal  world,  in  the  holy  covenant 
of  celestial  matrimony,  is  peculiar  to  the  ordi- 
nances and  ministrations  of  the  Apostleship  or 
Priesthood  after  the  order  of  the  Son  of  God, 
or  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek. 

Thus  the  Apostles,  holding  the  keys  of  the 
eternal  mysteries  of  God's  kingdom  to  seal  both 
on  earth  and  in  heaven,  understood  and  testified 
that  "the  man  is  not  without  the  woman,  nor  the 
woman  without  the  man  in  the  Lord." 

All  persons  who  attain  to  the  resurrection,  and 
to  salvation,  without  these  eternal  ordinances,  or 
sealing  covenants,  will  remain  in  a  single  state 
in  their  saved  condition,  without  the  joys  of  eter- 
nal union  with  the  other  sex,  and  consequently 
without  a  crown,  without  a  kingdom,  without  the 
power  to  increase. 

Hence  they  are  angels  and  are  not  gods;  and 
are  ministering  spirits,  or  servants,  in  the  em- 


KEY    TO    THEOLOGY.  159 

ploy  and  under  the  direction  of  THE  ROYAL  FAMILY 
OF  HEAVEN — THE  PRINCES,  KINGS  AND  PRIESTS  OF 
ETERNITY. 


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